


Motorcycle Man

by gingeringfigs



Series: Born to be Wild [1]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Street Racing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-01 07:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2765621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingeringfigs/pseuds/gingeringfigs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Heavy lies the head that wears the crown."</i><br/>- King Henry IV, Part II, William Shakespeare</p><p>Tadashi Hamada wasn’t always as squeaky clean as he projected himself to be. In fact, years ago during his rebellious teen years, he used to be an illegal street racer and King of the road before he suddenly left the racing scene due to mysterious circumstances. But now, it seems that his past still hasn’t left him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

His phone went off in his pocket, loud beeps notifying him that his younger brother was in trouble. He sighed. Already knowing what he was going to see on the screen of his phone, he dutifully checked it and saw that Hiro was back in the seedier parts of San Fransokyo. Illegally bot-fighting. _Again_.

Tadashi was fed up with this bullshit that Hiro was pulling. He had hoped that when Hiro finally graduated from high school, he would stop his activities – not so much because they were illegal but because they were _dangerous_. Was Hiro not aware that some of the people he mixed with at those events weren’t exactly law-abiding citizens? (He probably already knew but either didn’t care or was just reckless enough to believe that he could get away scot-free.)

His younger brother was lucky so far that he hadn’t run into anyone more dangerous than just your two-bit street thug instead of real yakuza lurking much further in no-man’s territory. Hiro was also even luckier that the fujitas hadn’t reported him to their higher-ups or he would certainly have been caught by much more dangerous people than the ones he met. Tadashi dreaded that scenario with all his being and hoped that he wouldn’t be forced to take drastic measures, should that occur.

Tadashi put away his phone, already having memorised the coordinates with a glance. He walked out of his private lab and waved good-bye to the nerd lab, “I’m going to pick Hiro up. See you tomorrow, guys.”

“Okay! Send Hiro my regards!” Honey Lemon cheerily waved back before turning back to her chemical experiments. The rest of the squad wordlessly saluted him, too busy working on their projects (except for Fred who was busy reading his comics). Gogo, however, gave him a knowing look and popped her bubble gum to speak, “Take care of Hiro.”

“I always do.” Tadashi replied, pulling his cap down.

 

* * *

 

_Oh shit oh shit oh shit. What can I do? How can I get out of this?_

Pushing himself further and determinedly ignoring the sharp twinges in his side, Hiro barely managed to disappear from his pursuers’ sight for a few seconds into the shadows up ahead. Quickly turning left into a cul-de-sac, Hiro dove into a blessedly empty trash dumpster and slammed it shut for cover, just in time as the men he had fleeced not too long ago in the bot-fighting ring finally caught up and ran past his hiding place, growling, “Damn, that brat is _fast_!”

Hiro remained still, holding his breath. His heart hammered as he waited for their voices to fade in the distance and a couple more minutes after that before he finally relaxed.

“Phew. That was a close one.” Hiro panted under his breath. Wincing as the side stitch twanged painfully, he patted his pockets to ensure that he had all his possessions with him. Relieved that everything was accounted for, he reached up to open the trash dumpster – when it suddenly opened with a loud clang and a deep voice growling, “ _You_.”

Jumping, Hiro slapped his hands over his mouth just in time to muffle his loud shriek. Staring wide-eyed up, he almost couldn’t recognise his elder brother in the darkness if not for the cap he always wore. His usually genial brother looked rather displeased. Hiro gulped and tentatively waved at him, “Hey, fancy meeting you here…”

Tadashi didn’t say a word. Instead, he motioned for Hiro to get out of the dumpster with a jerk of his thumb. Hiro scrambled out of the dumpster and followed him to the scooter. Tadashi tossed him the helmet and waited for him to get ready before starting the vehicle.

As they pulled away from the dark alleyway, Tadashi swatted at Hiro’s helmet as he growled, “I _told_ you just this morning not to go bot-fighting!”

“Oh come on, you know that my brain isn’t fully switched on before I’ve had my first cup of coffee!”

Easily dodging the swat, Hiro grinned unrepentantly. He was still riding his adrenaline high and it had been a pretty exciting night with a large wad of hard, cold, cash that he couldn’t wait to splurge on new machine parts. Tadashi shot him a flat look over his shoulder, “You don’t even drink coffee!”

“Of course I do! Just…with four teaspoons of sugar and milk,” Hiro trailed off into a sheepish whisper, embarrassed by his inability to drink coffee black. It wasn’t his fault that black coffee was just so bitter. Give him a caramel mocha latte any time instead.

Tadashi shook his head, turning back to the road, muttering, “Goodness, you’re going to get diabetes at this rate, with your huge sweet tooth.”

Hiro smirked, opening his mouth for another witty repartee but he ended up nearly swallowing his tongue when Tadashi sped up even faster, forcing him to cling tightly to Tadashi lest he fall off the scooter. He yelped, “Hey, watch it!”

“Tonight was supposed to be my shift at the Lucky Cat Café! Hold on tight.” Tadashi was looking rather panicked, clearly dreading Aunt Cass’s wrath. Hiro’s face mirrored his as he too recalled what he had forgotten, “Aw crap, it was my shift too! HURRY!”

“Already on it!,” Tadashi shouted as he gunned the scooter down the streets as fast as the vehicle could possibly go.

 

* * *

 

Luckily for the Hamada brothers, they made it in the nick of time before the night crowd hit. And it was busy, noisy and hectic. Halfway through the shift, Hiro was starting to droop in exhaustion – not too surprising as he was still young even if he was already graduated from high school. In mutual agreement with Aunt Cass, Tadashi shooed Hiro to bed. The rest of the shift passed smoothly and before Tadashi realised it, it was already time to close up the café. As he put back the dry dishes into the cupboards, he noticed a familiar petite figure lingering in front of the café with a yellow motorbike. Ah right. He had better hurry.

“Hey aunt, you can go back up. I’ll take care of things here.”

Aunt Cass gave him a tired and thankful smile. She patted his shoulder and said, “You’re such a dear! Thank you. I trust everything will be in good order tomorrow morning?”

“Aw come on, Aunt Cass! That was only that one time!,” Tadashi lightly protested with a faint pink flush. His aunt giggled and hung her apron on the clothes-hook. She wriggled her fingers at him and skipped upstairs. Tadashi listened to her footsteps fade in the distance before he went over to the front door and let Gogo in. She pulled out a chair, twirled it around and sat in it. She fixed Tadashi with a cool look, “You know, for the ex-King of the road, you are absolutely _shit_ at keeping your little brother in control. How many times does this make it already?”

His shoulders slumping, Tadashi took his apron off and bunched it up in his hand with a groan, “I’ve _tried_. But he just doesn’t listen. He’s worse than the worst tankslapper I’ve ever had – he’s uncontrollable. I’ve never been forced to deliberately lay down my bike, but with him, I have to or he’ll end up in a far worse situation where I can’t do anything to protect him. And don’t call me that. Please.”

Gogo kept quiet, her dark eyes watching him. Tadashi sighed. He pulled out another chair and sat heavily in it. Leaving the apron on the table, he leaned back and pressed down on his closed eyes with a hand. He spoke, “Ok look, I’m already keeping close tabs on Hiro by sewing GPS chips into all of his hoodies and pulling him out of the bot-fighting rings as quickly as I can. But no matter how many times I’ve scolded him, he just doesn’t want to stop. He loves bot-fighting too much.”

“Much like you in the past, huh?” Gogo replied with a faint smile. Tadashi ruefully laughed, “Yeah. Much to my horror.”

Suddenly, Gogo lost her good humour and she swiftly punched his arm with a loud thwack, “Woman up! You’re just too soft on the kid. If he keeps this up, he’s going to get hurt or _worse_.”

Tadashi rubbed at his upper arm where he could feel a bruise start to form – Gogo never pulled her punches and she hit _hard_. He asked, “But _how_?”

“Just tell him the truth! He’s more likely to listen if he knew the full story.” Gogo hissed, “I keep telling you that, but you’re just like your brother – never listening to what I say!”

“You know I can’t do that. Hiro can’t know of my past. It’s too dangerous for him to know,” Tadashi shook his head, not willing to take Gogo’s well-meant advice. He had already made too many enemies in his past and he didn’t want to let any of them touch Hiro.

Gogo narrowed her eyes at him, “Like he’s not in any danger _right now_?”

Tadashi raked his hand through his hair, pushing it back. He raised an eyebrow and said firmly, “That’s different. I have it under control.”

Gogo didn’t look happy. She braced her hands against the table, readying to get up when Tadashi ordered, “Stop. _Enough_.”

She involuntarily stilled. Gogo hadn’t heard that cold tone of voice in a long while. But she didn’t remain frozen for long – she got up anyway and slammed her fist down on the table, “Tadashi Hamada, you’re an idiot. You can’t keep this up for long. Sooner or later, Hiro’s going to find out and you’ll have to deal with the fall-out. Why not tell the truth before the inevitable crash?”

She punched Tadashi again in the same spot on the arm, “And don’t address me in that tone of voice again! I’m not one of the damn yaks.”

Tadashi winced. He ran a hand over his face, looking very tired. He apologised, “I’m sorry. Today’s been a really long day but that’s no excuse for my reaction.”

Gogo sat back down. She waved her hand, “Accepted. But you know, I’m still pissed off at you for that speed limit law, Mr Law-maker.”

She drew her thumb across her neck, “But not as pissed as I am at you for beating my speed record _just_ before that speed limit law came in.”

“You’re still carrying a grudge over that??”

“Yeah. What did you think?,” Gogo’s eyes were bright with a competitive fire and Tadashi buried his face in his hands, already weeping for the loss of his precious sleep.

He feebly tried to dissuade his determined friend, “Gogo… _please_. Can we not do this now? I’ve got a early start tomorrow and it’s already past midnight.”

“You used to stay up later than that before,” Gogo wasn’t convinced. Tadashi tried again, “I don’t have that bike with me _right now_. It’s at the warehouse, remember?”

“Fine. Just remember to collect the keys from me tomorrow.” Gogo relented. Tadashi nodded. The small woman got up from her chair and she strode out of the café. Tadashi followed her out. As she got on her bike and strapped on her helmet, she lightly tapped her fist on Tadashi’s chest, “You know, why not bring your brother to the lab sometime? We’ll be happy to see him.”

“Yeah. One day. If Hiro ever gets an interest in going to the nerd school as he calls it,” Tadashi shrugged with an amused grin.

“Nerd school huh. It is pretty much a nerd school.” Gogo sardonically agreed. “See you tomorrow, nerd.”

With that, she took off with a loud roar of the engine. Tadashi watched the rapidly dwindling speck of yellow until he couldn’t see it anymore in the dark before he went back into the café to lock up for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see me riding by  
> Do not stop me, do not try  
> 'Cause I'm a motorcycle man  
> I get my kicks just when I can  
> When I can
> 
> Motorcycle man  
> Motorcycle man  
> Motorcycle, motorcycle  
> Motorcycle man
> 
> I can beat your street machine  
> I'm taking risks, that's what I mean  
> 'Cause I'm a motorcycle man  
> We get our kicks just when we can  
> When we can
> 
> Motorcycle man  
> Motorcycle man  
> Motorcycle, motorcycle  
> Motorcycle man
> 
>  
> 
> [Motorcycle Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjEFL4-7y7k)
> 
>  **Glossary**  
>  **Law Maker** \- Riders that engage in senseless and risky behavior that can lead to accidents, injury or death to themselves or others. Their reckless behavior causes restrictive laws to be imposed on all riders.
> 
>  **Lay it Down** \- Most commonly used as another term for crash. A rider can also "lay down" his motorcycle intentionally when a danger ahead is even less preferable. In this case laying the bike down will be a little like a hockey stop on ice stakes with the bike low, sideways and sliding wheels first.
> 
>  **Tankslapper** \- A dangerous situation where the motorcycle's handlebars jerk back and forth causing the riders knees to slap against the gas tank. A motorcycle under power will naturally seek to roll upright and in a straight line so if mishandled, the handlebars can jerk back and forth trying to find the straight line. A tankslapper normally ends up with the rider laying the bike down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hamada household's morning ritual is a ruckus.

Hiro was not a morning person; instead he was a grumpy _oni_ that could only be appeased with offerings of coffee and piping hot muffins fresh from the oven. No amount of force could peel him away from his cosy bed without those offerings to tempt him. But nope, a loud alarm went off shrilly from Tadashi’s side of their bedroom, waking him up. Hiro muttered angry epithets under his breath, rolled over and pulled a pillow over his head. _Ugh._ He really despised Tadashi’s early morning bird habits and why did he have to be so _disgustingly_ _cheerful_ – it was positively inhuman.

 

“Rise and shine!”

 

The next thing he knew, he was yanked out of his cosy bed and slung over a broad shoulder. Hiro yelped and squirmed, too disoriented and sleepy to put up much of a fight. But he was just aware enough to see where Tadashi was carrying him towards and he screeched, “NO DON’T YOU DARE-!”

 

But too late. Tadashi ruthlessly threw him into the running shower without pause. Hiro shrieked unintelligibly as cold water smacked the sleep right out of him. Sputtering and scrambling on wet slippery tiles, a very soaked and bedraggled Hiro stumbled out of the shower and glared at Tadashi who was bent over with muffled laughter, his shoulders shaking as he covered his mouth with one hand.

 

“I’m gonna get you _back_ , I swear!” Hiro shook his fist ineffectually at his evil, evil, _evil_ brother. Honestly, whoever said that Tadashi was a perfect angel was as blind as a bat and ought to be hit with a rusty shovel.

 

Tadashi finally managed to control his mirth though his lips still twitched with suppressed laughter as he looked at Hiro, “I’ll be looking forward to it then. Now, why don’t you get ready for breakfast?”

 

Hiro narrowed his eyes at him before his face broke into a predatory smirk, “Oh yeah? How about you get ready too huh? Don’t you have nerd school to attend?”

 

Lightning-fast, he grabbed Tadashi’s wrist and yanked, pulling him off-centre and into the shower with him. He was immensely gratified to hear a high-pitched squeal from Tadashi as he too experienced the sudden chill of icy water. _Suffer just like I did,_ Hiro vindictively thought as he cackled loudly.

 

Still wiping the water out of his eyes and shivering from the chill, Tadashi blindly felt for the hand shower and pulled it from the wall-clasp. He quickly sprayed a jet of water in the direction of Hiro’s voice. Tadashi grinned when he heard Hiro’s cackle dissolve into garbled noise. Bull’s eye.

 

“Not fair!” Hiro yelled when he had wiped the water from his face and saw the hand-shower in Tadashi’s hand. Cramped as it already was in the bathroom stall with two of them, there wasn’t much room to dodge the water jets. He would have to go on offense. Lunging at his brother, Hiro tried to swipe the dangerous weapon from Tadashi’s hand. Tadashi only laughed and pulled it out of reach with his stupidly tall height, drenching Hiro even further.

 

Hiro fumed impotently but he wasn’t going down so easily; Tadashi should already know that by now, as his eyes darted to a much more accessible target. With a wicked gleam in his eyes, he reached out and jabbed Tadashi in the ribs just below his armpit.

 

True to expectations, Tadashi recoiled, a choked giggle escaping him as he swiftly lowered his arm to prevent further attacks on his body, “ _Ha-hey_!” Hiro saw his chance and jumped, finally swiping the hand shower from Tadashi’s loose grip. But before he could turn it back on Tadashi, his brother grabbed him around the waist, yanking him off the floor and started to attack his ticklish spots. Trapped in Tadashi’s strong arms, Hiro dropped the hand-shower in his flails, unable to evade nimble fingers and losing the struggle to contain his involuntary laughter.

 

“Okay, I give, I give! Stop! Stop! I surrender!” Hiro wheezed, red-faced with exertion as he went limp in Tadashi’s hands.  Mercifully, Tadashi stopped and he put him back down on the floor with a victorious grin. Hiro hugged his aching sides and scowled at him. Now there was no way he could go back to sleep, soaking wet and too wired on adrenaline from the impromptu bathroom battle. Ugh.

 

“Okay. What gives,” Hiro asked as he watched Tadashi pick up the hand shower and putting it back in the clasp. He was being really disgustingly cheerful, much more than usual. Hiro suspiciously wondered exactly what he was up to. Tadashi grabbed a miraculously dry towel from the rack and headed out of their bathroom, “Alright, I’m going to use Aunt Cass’s bathroom. You go and clean up.”

 

“Why?” Hiro hollered to Tadashi. He called back, “Because you’re using that bathroom and I have class!”

 

“That’s not an _excuse_!” Hiro yelled. There was no answer from Tadashi except for the distant sound of running water from Aunt Cass’s bathroom. He stomped back into the bathroom with a grumble. Might as well shower and clean up the mess. He was so getting Tadashi back for this.

 

* * *

 

Freshly showered and dressed, Hiro meandered his way down the stairs to the kitchen. Tadashi was nowhere to be seen except for Aunt Cass and Mochi. She smiled at seeing him, “Wow, you’re up early! Good, I’m making blueberry pancakes with the leftover blueberries. Didn’t want to let them go to waste, you know?”

 

Hiro perked up at the delicious smell of fresh pancakes, “Awesome. They smell fantastic!”

 

Aunt Cass waved her spatula at him, “They’re not ready yet! Anyway, what was all that noise I heard earlier? It sounded like a war up there."

 

"Hahaha...it was nothing. Probably just the neighbour who turned his music on too loud. Ok, I'mmagonowandgetniisan!" Hiro hurriedly muttered as he ran back up the stairs, unwilling to tell the truth. If he was going to get a tongue-lashing, it was only right that Tadashi also receive the same treatment when he was the one who damn well started it in the first place! Besides, he had already cleaned up the worst of the mess!

 

Taking the stairs two at a time to reach the second floor, he walked over to the door that led to Aunt Cass's bathroom. He knocked, waited and opened the door when there was no answer.

 

"Huh. Where did he go?", Hiro wondered as he scanned the empty bathroom. It was obvious that it had been recently used as it was still warm and steamy inside the room with water dripping from the shower curtains into the bathtub. Hiro stepped back out and headed for their shared bathroom. Perhaps, Tadashi had gone in there to finish up his ablutions.

 

Again, he knocked on the door and waited for a few moments before pushing his way in. Tadashi wasn’t in there. So that meant Tadashi must have gone up to their bedroom on the third floor-slash-attic. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Hiro bounded up the third flight of stairs.

 

When he finally reached their bedroom, he didn’t immediately see his brother. Spotting Tadashi’s shadow behind the screen divider that separated Tadashi’s area from his, Hiro grinned mischieviously. Aha, now there was his chance to get proper payback for the shower. Steathily tiptoeing his way to the screen divider, he paused to savour the anticipation. Then he quickly pushed aside the thin screen with a loud yell, “BOO!”

 

Tadashi jumped with a startled yelp, immediately spinning around to face Hiro as he held up his shirt as if to ward his attacker off. When he saw that it was only Hiro, he relaxed and slapped a hand over his forehead with a rueful laugh, “You got me good.”

 

Hiro wasn’t paying much attention anymore though. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Tadashi half-naked without a shirt (that must have been _years ago_ ) and _wow_ , was he _ripped_. The long sleeved shirts and cardigans Tadashi favoured had hidden a lot. Feeling incredibly self-conscious all of a sudden, Hiro glanced to the side and pretended to examine his fingernails, “Yeah. I saw the chance and took it.”

 

“So you did. But you could have chosen a better time to do it – what if I was still in the shower?” Gracing Hiro with a mildly chagrined look, Tadashi held up his shirt and pulled it on, distracting Hiro again with a short show of flexing muscles, like damn what the hell did he do in nerd school to get such well defined abs and arms?? Hiro nearly forgot to retort, “It’s not like I saw anything _important,_ prude!”

 

Tadashi hesitated for a brief moment. Then he snorted, “Just as well. I don’t think I’d be very comfortable with the idea that I’d accidentally flashed you.”

 

“I think I’d be _traumatised_. So huh, yeah, ok, agreed.” Hiro awkwardly conceded, like whooooa no his mind was so not going _there._ He _did not_ want to see whether the rest of Tadashi was just as _well built_ ; damn it, he really needed a double shot of coffee because his brain was obviously not up to speed yet and throwing up insane ideas he wouldn’t even consider on his worst day.

 

_Huh. Wait. What’s that…?_

 

Catching a glimpse of an inky black mark curling over Tadashi’s right upper shoulder, Hiro tilted his head, inconspicuously trying to get a better look at the mark as Tadashi turned around to retrieve his cap and cardigan. Damn it! He couldn’t see _anything_ at all – his shirt already covered it all up. Somehow feeling cheated, Hiro huffed and said, “Come on, hurry up. Aunt Cass made blueberry pancakes! Let’s eat them before they get cold, slowpoke.”

 

“Oh, so that’s what the heavenly smell was! Great, I'm feeling famished.” Tadashi smiled. He clapped Hiro on the shoulder and gently steered him towards the stairs. Hiro quickly shrugged off Tadashi’s hand as he hopped down the stairs, “You snooze, you lose! I’m going to eat _all_ the pancakes!”

 

“Nope you aren’t!” Tadashi snagged Hiro’s hoodie and pulled him back in. Swooping down on Hiro, he easily manhandled him and carried him under his arm down the stairs. Scowling, Hiro crossed his arms and grumbled, “This is getting really old _fast_. Man, I can’t wait to grow up some more.”

 

Tadashi remarked offhandedly, “All the more to do it _now_ while I can.”

 

“Oh, shove it.”

 

* * *

 

 Thankfully, Aunt Cass didn’t laugh too much when she saw them coming down the stairs – Tadashi carrying Hiro like a disgruntled cat under his arm with a fierce scowl on his face. Sitting down at table, Hiro had his first bite of the pancake and he was in utter bliss. Hot, fluffy and sweet with the tart edge of blueberries, it was perfect. He groaned, “Wow, this is so _good._ I’d marry this pancake if I could.”

 

Aunt Cass laughed, “I’m flattered that you enjoy it that much! There’s more in the oven so you can just warm them up on the stove. I’m going to open the café soon so please clean up here, Hiro, before you go and do your own thing.”

 

Stuffing his mouth with more pancake, Hiro absently nodded, his mind already wandering off to his plans for the day. He needed to buy more machine parts and upgrade Megabot, find out the next bot-fight’s venue and time, figure out a way to avoid Tadashi’s notice when he snuck out tonight… There were a lot of things he had to do. And oh yeah, figure out what that mark on Tadashi’s shoulder was. Was that actually a _tattoo_ or some mysterious birthmark that Tadashi failed to mention - nah that was very unlikely as he still remembered not seeing any marks before.

 

Meanwhile, Tadashi had already finished his breakfast. Putting his plate and dirty utensils in the sink, he grabbed the paper bag that contained his lunch off the counter and pecked Aunt Cass on her cheek, “Thanks for the meal. I’m going now.”

 

“Yep. Don’t stay too late at school, you hear me? Off you go.” Aunt Cass patted Tadashi’s shoulder. On his way out, Tadashi bent down to whisper in Hiro’s ear, “No bot-fighting!”

 

“Yeah yeah, got it.” Hiro dismissively waved, too occupied with his delicious blueberry pancakes and coffee. “I’ll see you tonight, Tadashi.”

 

“You’d better.” Tadashi shook his head, half-resigned to the fact that he most likely would have to pick Hiro up from an illegal bot-fighting ring again tonight. There were no changing Hiro’s bad habits.

 

“Right, time to get going!” Tadashi disappeared out the door and soon, both Aunt Cass and Hiro heard the familiar sound of his scooter starting. In the distance, the San Fransokyo Clock Tower’s chime echoed.

 

The day had only just started.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like a true nature's child  
> We were born  
> Born to be wild  
> We can climb so high  
> I never wanna die  
> Born to be wild  
> Born to be wild
> 
> Get your motor runnin'  
> Head out on the highway  
> Looking for adventure  
> In whatever comes our way
> 
> Yeah, darlin'  
> Gonna make it happen  
> Take the world in a love embrace  
> Fire all of your guns at once  
> And explode into space
> 
>  
> 
> [Born to be Wild](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxyQ8PRMY4I)


	3. Chapter 3

Hiro’s day was slow-going with most of his morning occupied with the café, helping Aunt Cass with the morning crowd on their way to work. There after, in the lull between, Hiro had popped over to his regular DIY store to purchase new mechanical parts like servos to replace the ones in Megabot. Its current servo gears were getting worn and bent out of shape with repetitive usage, leading to less precise and responsive movements. While it wasn’t urgent or noticeable to most people, Hiro was a perfectionist when it came to his bots – no imperfections allowed!

 

Aside from the shiny new servos and topping up on other spare materials like new solder, Hiro also took his time browsing through the catalogue of tools, mentally upgrading his list of tools and their corresponding prices. So far, he didn’t need to replace any of his tools, which was fortunate because wow holy geez, that soldering iron was reaaaaallly pricy at _thirty bucks_ , when the cheapest one sold for only ten bucks! It had better be a good model well worth the upped price margin. After paying for his purchases at the counter (with a discount thanks to his “childish charm” nice!), he went back home, calculating his remaining prize money in his head.

 

He probably would have to go to another bot fight tonight as a just-in-case to top up the cash…nah, who was he kidding? Hiro couldn’t resist the thrill of bot-fighting and the prize money was a sweet, sweet bonus that allowed him to purchase all sorts of neat gear and stuff, without having to rely on Aunt Cass for pocket money.

 

By the time he got home, it was now lunch-hour, the second flood of working office people filling the café for their mid-day meal and coffee. Hiro quickly ducked behind the counter and up the stairs to his bedroom to deposit his purchases before rushing back down to Aunt Cass’s call, “Hiro! I need you to take customer orders!”

 

“Coming!”

 

The lunch-hour (a rather misleading term that actually referred to the three hour period from 12 noon to 3 pm), was usually less busy than the morning crowd. Hiro was thankful for that, as it allowed him the freedom to daydream of new bot designs and strategies for the next bot-fight as he sat in a corner of the shop, manning the till and watching the front door.

 

Pretty easy work considering that Aunt Cass already did most of the heavy-lifting and also thanks to Hiro’s little tweakings here and there to the machines like the automatic vacuum cleaner and the dishwasher that eliminated most of the hassle. Hiro yawned and stretched his back when the last customer finally left and Aunt Cass flipped the ‘OPEN’ sign to ‘CLOSED’.

 

Time for a short nap before he headed out to the next bot-fight’s venue, wherever it might be.

 

* * *

 

Tadashi was buried up to his eyeballs in student manuscripts and he wasn’t even a third through marking the stack of papers. Clutching his red pen, he let his head thunk loudly against his desk as he groaned long and low, “Kill me please. How did these students even get into SFIT??”

 

Seriously, the questions weren’t even that hard and it was just simple elementary vectors and matrices – they weren’t even touching polynomials yet! How could one mess up the units so badly?? Tadashi couldn’t help but wince and palm his face as he scanned through yet another manuscript, easily spotting all the errors. He really hoped that the mistakes were either from carelessness or lack of sleep from pulling several late-nighters in a row; having done so himself. But after having gone through some odd twenty, thirty scripts a while back, Tadashi’s hope (and sanity) was rapidly dwindling.

 

Tadashi sighed heavily when he saw yet another mistake. As he slashed another red ‘x’ on the paper, he muttered, “No, that’s not how it works! You don’t add the i, j, and k units together in the _same vector_! You add them to the _other vector’s_ respective units!”

 

“It’s time you take a break. It’s already growing late.” Gogo said from the door to Tadashi’s private lab. With a jolt, Tadashi looked up at the window and saw that it was already growing dusky with red and peach streaks across the deep purpling sky. The red sun hovered in the horizon behind tree silhouettes. He slowly blinked as if coming out of a stupor and then checked his watch.

 

“It’s already 6pm?!”

 

“No, it’s 6am.” Gogo sarcastically said as she strode in, dangling a keychain from her hand. “Don’t forget to collect your bike. You still owe me a race.”

 

Tadashi put down his pen, stared at the remaining stack of papers on his desk and massaged his forehead.

 

“Can I take a raincheck on that? I’ve got to finish marking all this by the end of tomorrow and tabulate the results in the academic database.” Tadashi didn’t look very happy at the prospect, but he had a duty to perform as a T.A. Gogo looked over his desk and replied, “I’m sure they can wait until the end of this week. They don’t update the systems until the next maintenance round on Saturday night.”

 

Tadashi contemplated her words and looked at his desk once more. Maybe he should…? Just then, his phone went off once more with that familiar ringtone that had him palming his face with a heartfelt, “ _No_.”

 

Gogo crossed her arms and dryly commented, “Seems that Hiro also agrees.”

 

“Don’t _even_.” Shooting Gogo a scowl, Tadashi unlocked his phone, the screen automatically opening up to the GPS app. He scanned the map carefully, looking for the red dot that marked Hiro’s location. When he finally found Hiro, Tadashi stilled with an unreadable expression on his face.

 

“Where’s he?” Gogo asked. Tadashi didn’t respond to her as he stared at his phone in utter stillness. Gogo uncrossed her arms and repeated herself, “Where is he?”

 

As if a spell had broken, Tadashi abruptly stood up from his chair, knocking over the stack of papers in his haste. He swiped the keys from a startled Gogo’s hand and rushed out of the lab with no word. Losing a few seconds to glance at the papers that were still gently drifting from the table to the floor, Gogo hastily chased after Tadashi.

 

Tadashi barely glanced at the rest of his friends in the main lab area as he swiftly cut through the open central space and out into the main corridor. Fred, Honey Lemon and Wasabi asked Gogo in concern, “What’s going on?”

 

Gogo threw out her reply, “No idea, but I’m guessing Hiro is in trouble again. I’m making sure Tadashi doesn’t do anything stupid."

 

“Does he need more assistance?” Honey Lemon kindly asked, reaching up to take off her safety goggles. Wasabi stood up from his seat, concern showing on his face. Gogo held up her hand, “No need. I’m more than enough help. You should focus on your projects.”

 

Fred slumped down in his monster suit, “Awww. Just when I thought I could get to see some action!”

 

“Very well! Keep us updated on the situation.” Honey Lemon quickly hugged Gogo and pecked her cheek a fond farewell.

 

Wasabi said with a worried frown, “You should be careful too, Gogo!”

 

“Yeah, thanks. Save your concern for Tadashi.” Gogo nodded and quickly headed out after Tadashi. She growled when she saw Tadashi’s scooter was already gone. Quickly straddling her yellow bike and slipping her helmet on, she plugged in her ignition key and turned the engine on. Gogo took off in the direction she knew Tadashi had to be heading towards. He was still far too reckless for his own good!

 

* * *

 

Feeling refreshed from his brief nap, Hiro had checked the bot-fighting website and saw that the new location was…well, pretty far on the other end of town. Apparently, it was a special occasion this time round coinciding with some other important event called, “Riot Run”. Huh, so according to the scant information, it was an annual race of great importance to the street-racing scene. How fascinating! Hiro hadn’t seen a street race live before.

 

The only trouble was that he would certainly be caught by Tadashi returning home or be snatched up by him by the back of his hoodie along the way since he was going to finish and return late. And get another ear-ringing lecture in the process, _uuughhh_. But eh, it was still only words in the end so he would just have to grin and bear it.

 

Grabbing Megabot and his bag, Hiro snuck out of the café. It was all too easy with Aunt Cass still taking a siesta in her room. Keeping his eye on the map app on his phone, Hiro headed for the nearest bus-stop and hopped onto the bus that would take him to his new victims for the night _(Muahahahaha!!)_

 

Along the way towards the outskirts of San Fransokyo, Hiro began to notice more and more motorbikes appearing on the road. The motorbikes and respective riders were a motley bunch; some gleaming in chrome, sleek black leathers and heaps of swagger, some were rugged and dirty as though they had been rolling around in mud and hadn’t washed it off, preferring to let it dry into caked dirt. There were also some really wild and colourful motorbikes that had been given a customised paintjob with flames, skulls or what not. Hiro squinted and pressed his face to the glass window, trying to make out more details in the rapidly dimming light but soon, all he could see were the headlights and flashes of shining metal in the dark.

 

Eventually, the mostly empty bus save for the bus driver, Hiro and a couple of rough looking stragglers, came to a stop at a remote bus-stop near the base of a mountain pass. Hiro hopped off, clutching the straps of his backpack tightly. This was the furthest he had ever gone from home and in new mysterious territory. He bounced on his feet, a thrill of excitement zapping through him. Hiro knew that this was going to be an awesome night!

 

Checking his phone again, Hiro saw that the bot-fighting ring was close-by…all the way up the mountain. And it was a very _steep_ mountain. Hiro slapped his hands to his head in dismay, “WHY?? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?”

 

“Hey kid, is that a bot you’re carrying?” A gruff voice spoke up behind him, almost drowned out by the loud roar of an engine. Hiro turned and saw that the speaker was a middle-aged man with a bandana wrapped around his head. The barrel-chested man had a most impressive handle-bar mustache and he rode a behemoth of a motorbike that looked more like a tank with a thick steel frame and big wheels. In the flickering light of motorbike headlights going by, Hiro could make out a ferocious scar that crawled up the side of the man’s cheek and pitted his flesh. In short, this man didn’t look like someone to be crossed. Hiro nervously nodded, “Y-yeah.”

 

“A'ight. Wear this and hop on. You’re lucky that my event’s starting point is also where you want to be.” The gruff Samaritan tossed him a helmet and Hiro barely caught it. He suspiciously regarded him, “How do I know that you’re going there for real?”

 

“Barbecued bunyip flipping jackshit. You must be completely green or living under a rock to not know what’s happening tonight! Get on or I’m leaving you here to walk. I don’t want to be late for the race.” The man’s mustache bristled.

 

“Okay, okay. I’m getting on! Thanks, old man!” Hiro decided to take the risk. He didn’t seem like a bad chap.

 

“Just call me Jay. Here we go!” The man roared and twisted the handles and they zoomed off up the steep road to their shared destination. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk  
> I'm a woman's man: no time to talk  
> Music loud and women warm, I've been kicked around  
> Since I was born  
> And now it's all right, I'm ok  
> And you may look the other way  
> We can try to understand  
> The new york times' effect on man
> 
> Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother  
> You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive  
> Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'  
> And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive  
> Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive  
> Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive
> 
>  
> 
> [Staying' Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY)


	4. Chapter 4

Hiro’s legs felt like jelly when he finally dismounted at the mountaintop. The monster bike’s engine vibrations had been bone rattling and intense enough to make him feel like he had been tossed into a drying machine on high speed. Jay dismounted heavily, sending up a mini cloud of dirt from his boots. He gave Hiro a hefty pat on his back that nearly sent him into the ground, “Nice! You’ve got a strong grip on you, laddie. You used to riding pillion?”

 

Teeth still chattering as he removed the helmet, Hiro weakly smiled, “Yeah. Got an older brother who rides a scooter. Thanks for the lift, Jay. Here's your helmet back.”

 

“Does your brother know you’re here?” Jay put the helmet back on his bike and tucked his thumbs into his belt loops, looking down at the young teenager. Hiro’s smile turned into a mischievous grin, “Nah. He would be really mad if he found out!”

 

“Your funeral, mate. Right then, what you be wanting is over there. I’m heading over that way meself to register in the Riot Run. The race doesn’t actually start until most of the bot-fights are over, so I might pop over for a bit and see how you be doing.” Jay helpfully pointed out the large gathering of people on the far end of the flood-lit plateau. Hiro looked over and was struck by the sheer number of bot-fighting enthusiasts roaming around with bots.

 

Even from the distance, he could see that the bots they carried were of a different caliber from the ones he was accustomed to fighting with. They looked more polished and Hiro was going to have step in closer for a better look. Waving farewell to Jay, Hiro clutched Megabot to his chest and carefully wended through the crowd to the bot-fighting section.

 

As he drew close to the crowd, he was surprised to see that the bot-fighters were much older than those he met in the city. They actually looked like _respectable_ people who held down a day-job instead of brutish thugs or punks. _Appearances can be deceiving though_ , Hiro thought as he eyed the people, scoping out his new competition. As he suspected, the robots they carried were definitely made of tougher metal alloy and no one-gimmick ponies.

 

“Hello, have you registered yet?” An officious looking woman with her glossy black hair done up in a braid held up a clipboard and pen in hand. She was making rounds through the crowd, registering the particulars of the bot-fighting participants. Hiro blinked at her, slightly taken aback.

 

“Re-registration? I didn’t know that we had to register! The website didn’t say anything about that!” Hiro decided to play innocent. This was really quite different from the bot-fighting rings he was used to. The olive-skinned woman looked at him through her glasses and said, “Ah. You’re new.”

 

She clicked her pen and braced it on the paper, “Alright, tell me your name and the name of your robot. I don’t know what website you were looking at, but it’s clearly not where you should have been looking for your information on tonight’s Bot-Fighting Spring Cup tournament.”

 

Whoa. Okay. This was really _new._ This was the first time he had heard of an actual _tournament_. Hiro grinned and held up Megabot. He said, “I’m Hiro and this is Megabot! Is there a participation fee?”

 

The woman nodded as she wrote down his details, “Welcome Hiro and Megabot. There is indeed a fee, but only what you can afford. This tournament is open to all, except for _some exceptions_.”

 

The woman’s expression turned icy and she pinned Hiro with a stern glare, “There are rules all must follow. One, no excessive force. That means no excessive damaging of their robots. When the robot is down for more than ten seconds, the match ends. Two, no bribes or cheating. We want to keep this clean. Three, no unauthorised or unsupervised bot-fights with others. If you break any of the rules, you will be banned indefinitely and your robot confiscated.”

 

Hiro thoughtfully considered the new information - obviously, this tournament was more organised and strict given the presence of regulations unlike the wild and lawless bot-fighting rings he attended. This…this was going to be such a pain in the ass.

 

Alright, change of plans. It didn’t seem like the stick-in-the-mud wasn’t going to let him slide with any hustling attempts. That definitely was going to cut down his fun - really, most of his fun was derived from watching his victims’ faces change dramatically from victorious anticipation to stunned despair as Megabot ripped their robots apart. Oh yeah, he couldn’t even do that here. Laaaame. If they were going to build robots that got so easily damaged, they deserved to be _shredded_.

 

“If you agree with the rules, you need to sign this waiver form. You may find the bot-fighting arena near the viewing platform. Right now, they’re doing some warm-ups before we start the preliminary rounds in thirty minutes. After the prelims, the street racers’ Riot Run will commence to allow the bot-fighters to perform maintenance and reparations of their robots in the meantime before the elimination rounds begin an hour after the race ends.” She held out her clipboard and her pen to Hiro as she helpfully informed him of the schedule.

 

Impressed by the planning that had gone into the tournament even if he didn’t entirely agree with the stifling rules, Hiro perused the form to make sure he wasn’t going to get tripped up by convoluted legalities – to his surprise, it was quite simple and straight-forward for a tournament with such insistence on rules. He signed the form. As he handed the pen and clipboard back to her, he asked, “Thanks. What’s your name, miss?”

 

“Bryn. Pleasure.” Bryn bowed slightly before she whisked away in a swirl of colourful skirts that dazzled in the white floodlights. Hiro looked around, searching for the so-called arena and viewing platform. He easily spotted large electronic screens and scoring boards set up near the mountain road. Excitement thrumming in him, Hiro eagerly headed for the arena.

 

* * *

 

The arena was less crowded than the main area of the plateau. It was oval in shape and several smaller oval rings with cushions for the people to sit on were spread evenly through the arena. In the centre, there was a small platform with two chairs and a circular fence for the bots to fight in. The encircling viewing platform was constructed higher than the arena with two stairs on both sides.

To access the arena, Hiro had to climb the stairs from the side facing the main area and descend the stairs on the inner side. He surmised that it was for safety reasons, judging from how fierce the bot-fights were getting in those rings.

 

Hiro meandered around the arena, scoping out the competition and their moves. He didn’t feel like doing the “warm-ups” because what was the point of revealing your moves before it was time? Shrugging, he hopped off to the viewing platform to survey the street racers.

 

Like what he had seen before on the bus, the bikers were quite a mixed bunch and they clustered in distinct groups. There were about three main groups, possibly with their own sub-groups as far as Hiro could tell, based on their preferred styles. The first group were the black leathers with monochrome bikes. They were liberally adorned with piercings and awesome tattoos that must have been a literal pain to get.

 

Next, the second group was…very flamboyant. _Outrageously so_. The sheer neon and glaringly bright rainbow colours that the group wore were practically blinding. Wigs of every veritable shade of the rainbow, artificial orange/dark tans and exaggerated make-up, the racers flaunted their street fashion loudly and boldly without giving a flying fuck for their rival groups' poor eyes. Their vehicles were also brightly coloured and festooned with ornate patterns or sparkling rhinestones (…was that really practical?) arranged in cutesy logos like Hello Kitty or Goth patterns. Hiro just knew that there had to be a word that described those people…Oh! _Gyaru-kei_! That’s it! He didn’t know that they were such a prominent part of the street-racing scene – not that he actually _knew_ anything about street-racing.

 

Finally, the third group was the most normal looking bunch out of the three. They wore form-fitting racing suits and wore lots of thick protective clothing that covered them from head to toe. They reminded Hiro of the professional bikers he saw on TV whenever the channel was on motor racing sports. Their motorbikes looked like any other normal motorbike he saw on the roads in San Fransokyo. Nothing to write home about.

 

Hiro leaned back in his seat, absorbing all the new sights and information as he gazed at the beautiful night view of San Fransokyo below the mountain. He hadn’t even done any bot-fighting yet, but this tournament and Riot Run were definitely going to be the most incredible and fun events he had ever been to! These were the big leagues; Hiro could just feel it.

 

Soon, a bell-like tone rang. All the bot-fights stopped and everyone turned to the large screens. Hiro did the same, wondering what was happening.

 

Onscreen, Bryn appeared on the small platform with a loudspeaker. She announced with precise dictation, “Welcome to the third annual Bot-fighters Spring Cup Tournament and Riot Run. We will begin the preliminary rounds shortly. Please look at the signboard to find your designated ring. Your goal is to be in the top 50 of the rankings. Those with lower rankings will be eliminated. The preliminary rounds end at 2100h. After which, Riot Run shall commence at 2130h. I wish you all the best.”

 

Bryn lowered the loudspeaker and stepped down from the platform as behind her, the signboards flickered to reveal a long list of names and their designated ring number. Hiro grinned and held Megabot close. Time to make a killing.

 

* * *

 

 

The yellow bike screeched to a halt in front of a warehouse in the docks. Gogo swiftly dismounted and ran to the open door of the warehouse. She raised the visor of her helmet as she peered into the shadowy darkness of the warehouse. She only saw the green vespa scooter and neatly folded clothes sitting on top of the seat. Tadashi was nowhere to be seen.

 

“ _Mang-hal-nom!!_ ” Gogo swore, angrily punching the door. Slamming her visor down, she immediately ran back out and leapt onto her bike. She drove off back the way she came, hoping she could still intercept Tadashi before it was too late. Why was she still friends with that _michinom_ anyway?

 

* * *

 

Hiro was grinning like a maniac. He hadn’t held back and the preliminary rounds had been a satisfying test of skill – holding back to prevent “excessive damage” to the opponents’ robots had surprisingly been more demanding than just letting Megabot go wild and rip the robots to pieces. It demanded a higher level of control and strategising that Hiro wasn’t accustomed to but quickly adapted after a few close shaves in the initial rounds.

 

But even with his vast skill and experience, the bot-fighters in the tournament were also really, really tough. Much more sly and unconventional than the ones Hiro used to face in the back alley bot-fighting rings. For example, in one round, Megabot hadn’t fought on oil slick before and nearly skidded out of the ring – which would have meant Hiro’s loss. But luckily, Hiro was able to compensate for that by using the magnetic servos to stubbornly cling onto the oil spewing robot and send it rolling out of the ring.

 

Even as Hiro continued to win his rounds in the preliminary pools, he also purposefully lost a few rounds here and there to avoid attracting too much attention – the results of the preliminary rounds were automatically updated on the signboards and the names were also reshuffled according to their current scores. Hiro aimed to get into the top ten.

 

Finally, the digital timer on the signboards came to a zero. Bryn appeared on the platform again and announced through the loudspeaker, “Halt. The preliminary rounds have now ended. Please make your way to the viewing platforms and your ticketed seats for the Riot Run. Those who are qualified for the elimination rounds may use the mobile labs to maintain their robots, or choose not to, if they wish to watch Riot Run as well.”

 

Hell yeah, he was gonna watch Riot Run! He didn’t like the idea of sitting around in a lab doing nothing when there was free entertainment to be had. Megabot didn’t need maintenance or repairs because he was the one who made it and therefore it was awesome and nearly indestructible. Muahahahahaha!

 

Grabbing Megabot as he whistled a jaunty tune, he skipped to the front row seats of the viewing platform, making sure that he had an uninterrupted view of the large screens, as he wanted to see everything that happened on the road away from the plateau.

 

Jay reappeared before him. He held out his fist and Hiro bumped his fist in greeting. Jay said, “Saw you out there just now. Pretty neat tricks! I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up winning the prize money.”

 

“Yeah, that’s my intention! But I don’t think I’m that good.” Hiro demurred, having already decided to aim for third though he could have easily won the entire thing. He didn’t want to make waves. Jay raised an eyebrow in scepticism. His handlebar mustache wiggled, “Well if that’s how you be playing… Just be careful that Bryn-birdie doesn’t catch you. She’s pretty strict about these sort of things.”

 

“Heheh.” Hiro only grinned. Jay grinned back and slapped him on the shoulder, “Aight. I’m gonna git going. I’ll be at the back as the Ride Lieutenant to keep an eye on the riders and make sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

 

“Eh? You’re not racing to win?”

 

“Nah. These bones be too old for racing. I’ve already been in this scene for over two decades. Won some, lost some, I’ve seen it all. Now I just wanna ride my motorbike!” Jay declared. Hiro’s eyes widened in awe and he said, “Cool!”

 

“See ya.” Jay saluted him and he descended the stairs to the main road, to where his motorbike lay.

 

Hiro settled in to watch as the racers began to line up in front of the checkered line. A man with an electric blue Mohawk held up a red flag. Hiro leaned forward in anticipation as tense silence fell on the mountain, as if everyone were holding their breaths. The red flag fluttered in the wind. Then it fell. And they were off!

 

Like an explosion, the motorbike engines roared to life in synchronicity. The racers peeled down the road, rubber wheels burning on the asphalt. Almost immediately, the screens split into multiple screens showing different views of the road as the racers appeared onscreen. Hiro realised with some awe that the cameras used to capture the footage were actually where the CCTV cameras were located. How had they managed to hack the CCTV and replace them with obviously HD cameras?

 

Hiro watched the street-race on the screens for a while. But eventually, he grew bored of just watching them move really fast and lapping the mountain. He had no idea who the racers were and didn’t feel any excitement even as some of the more skilled racers began to battle for the most favourable lane on the road. If Jay had been racing, he might have been a bit more invested in the race.

 

So with a sigh, Hiro got up from his seat and returned to the arena. An hour was a really short time, all factors considering. Not watching where he was going, he accidentally bumped into someone and fell onto his butt. Groaning, he indignantly said, “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

 

“You!” The man he had bumped into was one of his hustling victims Hiro had faced in the alleys. Three other men, all of whom he recognised from that bot-fighting ring not too long ago, accompanied him. Stiffening, Hiro quickly got up and stepped back warily, “Hey. Nice to see you here.”

 

“Brat! I’ve been looking for you! Return my money!” The large man threateningly stepped forward, his hands clenching into fists. Hiro held up his hands, “Hey, I won it fair and square. It’s not my fault that your robot was already so banged up when Megabot defeated it.”

 

The man’s face went splotchy with rage. He roared, “Then I’ll take your robot! Grab him!” His minions cracked their knuckles and made to tackle Hiro. Hiro squeaked.

 

“I would suggest you rethink your actions.” A smooth toneless voice cut through like a razor knife. A tall man dressed in black racing leathers and a black helmet with the visor down pulled Hiro behind him. There were no identifiers on him, save for a silver pin of a dragon on his lapel.

 

He didn’t look or sound very threatening, but there was something unsettling about someone whose face you couldn’t see behind a dark visor. His voice also carried no distinct accent or pitch that would have helped to identify him. In fact, he sounded like a machine. Like magic, the would-be aggressors paled and backpedalled so quickly that it looked like they had teleported. The mysterious man lowly laughed, “Thought so. You’re still a coward, Yama.”

 

“W-what the… It can’t be!” Yama stammered, pointing a shaking finger at the man in black. “You’ve been gone for _years_! Weren’t you supposed to be dead?”

 

The black rider cocked his head as though he was surprised by the news, “That’s news to me.”

 

“…Wait. You can’t be the real person. You’ve got to be an imposter!” Yama regained his composure and bluster. He ordered his men, “Get that helmet off him! Get that brat!”

 

The minions didn’t look convinced but they moved forward to attack anyway. The black rider shook his head and said, “You still never listen.”

 

In a blur of motion, the black rider took on the three men with ease and in mere seconds, he had dislocated one man’s arm, broke another man’s wrist and kneed the third’s solar plexus, sending all of them to the ground in pained moaning.

 

“Scram.”

 

They all fled.

 

“Awesome.” Hiro breathed in awe. The black rider turned to face him and stared him down. Hiro gulped, seeing his reflection in the blank visor. The man finally said, “You should go home. This place is not fit for young children like you.”

 

“What the. Hey! I’m turning fifteen soon!” Hiro scowled. He couldn’t help it if he was still short for his age! He didn’t like being mistaken for a kid. The black rider didn’t seem impressed. Instead, he grabbed Hiro’s hoodie and dragged him off. Hiro immediately resisted, twisting and kicking at him but to no avail.

 

“Bryn. Send this kid home. He’s not safe here. Find Yama and his associates. They tried to hurt him.” To Hiro’s surprise, the black rider had only brought him to Bryn. Bryn also seemed very surprised to see him, her dark eyes widening behind glasses at the black rider’s pin. She clapped her hands to her mouth, “B-black Dragon??”

 

“Send him home. You never saw me. Got it?” Black Dragon melted into the crowd without any other word. Bryn slowly blinked, as if she had just come out of a dream. She regained her composure and looked at Hiro with a curious expression, “What’s your address? I’ll send you home.”

 

“Why should I have to tell you?” Hiro grumpily retorted. His night was ruined!

 

“Because Black Dragon ordered it. It is not my place to question his orders.” Bryn sternly said as she gripped Hiro’s shoulder and firmly steered him away from the plateau. Along the way, she signalled her colleague over and relayed Black Dragon's instructions to him.

 

“Just who is Black Dragon??” Hiro reluctantly dragged his feet, unable to escape from Bryn’s tight grip. Bryn smiled bittersweetly, “He is our absent King.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back in black  
> I hit the sack  
> It's been too long I'm glad to be back  
> Yes I'm, let loose  
> From the noose
> 
> That's kept me hanging around  
> I keep looking at the sky  
> 'Cause it's gettin' me high  
> Forget the hearse 'cause I'll never die
> 
> I got nine lives  
> Cats eyes  
> Usin' every one of them and running wild
> 
> 'Cause I'm back  
> Yes, I'm back  
> Well, I'm back  
> Yes, I'm back  
> Well, I'm back, back  
> (Well) I'm back in black  
> Yes, I'm back in black  
> Back in the back
> 
> Of a Cadillac  
> Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack  
> Yes, I'm in a bang  
> With a gang  
> They've got to catch me if they want me to hang
> 
> Cause I'm back on the track  
> And I'm beating the flack  
> Nobody's gonna get me on another rap  
> So look at me now  
> I'm just makin' my play  
> Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way
> 
> 'Cause I'm back  
> Yes, I'm back  
> Well, I'm back  
> Yes, I'm back  
> Well, I'm back, back  
> (Well) I'm back in black  
> Yes, I'm back in black  
> Well, I'm back, Yes I'm back  
> Well, I'm back, Yes I'm back  
> Well, I'm back, back  
> Well I'm back in black  
> Yes I'm back in black
> 
> [Back in Black](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgnJDJN4VA)
> 
>  
> 
>  **Glossary**  
>  **mang-hal-nom** : Korean for motherfucker
> 
>  **michinom** : Korean for crazy bastard
> 
>  **Gyaru-kei** : A [Japanese pop-cultural sub-group](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyaru) known for garish makeup and fashion. 
> 
> **Ride Lieutenant** : The ride lieutenant is the last rider in a group ride and usually the most experienced aka Back Door.


	5. Chapter 5

Hiro was seething mad when he was finally dropped off a few blocks away from Lucky Cat Café. Even though he had stubbornly refused to tell Bryn his home address for the longest time he could, that B.D aka Bahamut Douchebag, Overlord of Dickheads, had actually texted Bryn his home address!! It was an invasion of privacy! Of essential human rights! How the HELL did he even know where he lived?? To top it all off, he hadn’t been able to win any prize money from the tournament. He was so mad that he felt he was going to either scream or kick something very hard.

 

“Hiro.” Bryn said, distracting Hiro from his mental tirade of foul curses at Black Dragon. He looked up at her and curtly said, “What.”

 

“I’m sorry your time was cut short at tonight’s tournament. However, if you wish to participate in future bot-fighting competitions, you may access this website for more information.” Bryn held out a black card with an URL and password on it to Hiro. He took it.

 

“A password?”

 

Bryn nodded, “Yes. We want to keep bot-fighting clean and the only way to do that, is to prevent unsavoury people from accessing the bot-fights. This means knowledge of our tournament is only passed on through word-of-mouth and our passwords are changed regularly. You will be required to register after you log into our website. You will be notified via your chosen mode of communication of our upcoming bot-fighting competitions’ venue and time and you will also be required to change your passwords every three months to ensure security.”

 

Hiro held up his hand, “Whoa, wait, wait. Hold on! I get that part about cyber security, but why do you want to keep bot-fighting clean when it’s already outlawed?”

 

Bryn’s lips thinned. She drew herself to her full height and said, “It did not used to be illegal. But criminals made it that way and we’ve been working very hard to restore bot-fighting’s prestige over the past few years in hopes of making it legal once more.”

 

She took a deep breath, pressing her hand to her chest as though it pained her. She shook her head, “I do believe, Hiro, that you are more _familiar_ with dirty bot-fighting than I am. I have checked your records on the way here and it is stated that you are a regular in the underground scene with a frightening propensity for violence and hustling at such a young age. You are also not a member of our network and Yama is an ex-member therefore you both should not have been present tonight. I will be having words with our network administrator over the information leak because both of you should have _not_ known about tonight’s competition if you weren’t members of our network.”

 

Hiro’s eyes widened. He did not know that he was on the records. How? Bryn gave him a small smile, “We have eyes everywhere, Hiro. A necessary precaution against the darker side of the underworld you frequent.”

 

“…Then why give me this card? If I’m one of the so-called _unsavoury persons_ that shouldn’t be participating?” Hiro suspiciously waved the black card.

 

Bryn folded her hands neatly in front of her long skirts. She replied, “I’ll not give you pithy words about your young age and how it is a shame to let your potential go to waste because I do not care about who you are. I would ban you from any future bot-fighting competitions if it were my decision. But Black Dragon has ordered that you be supervised in future bot-fighting competitions under my protection. I suppose it is much safer and better this way than to let you go to more dangerous bot-fighting rings alone.”

 

Black Dragon again. Who the hell did he think he was?! Hiro angrily shoved the card into his pocket. He crossed his arms and smirked, “What if I decide not to participate in your so-called safe and clean competitions? I could always just go to my usual bot-fighting haunts and you can’t stop me from doing that, can you?”

 

Bryn adjusted her glasses. She calmly said, “You could do that. I have not been ordered to stop you from doing so, if that is what you wish.”

 

Hiro narrowed his eye, not expecting such an anti-climatic response. He questioned, “Is this some sort of reverse-psychology trick? It’s not going to work on me.”

 

“I don’t think it would. I am only telling it as it is.”

 

“Damn, you’re _cold_. Shouldn’t you be a bit more concerned for a young reckless fourteen years old? You’re my assigned babysitter, after all.” Hiro leaned against the parking meter, pulling out a chocolate bar from his bag. He unwrapped the foil and obnoxiously bit into the chocolate.

 

Bryn sighed, clearly tempted to roll her eyes at his childishness but refrained. She turned and got into her car, “I have nothing more to say. You may do as you wish. Just know that you are welcome to join us at the next bot-fighting tournament. If not…the rest is all up to Black Dragon’s judgement.”

 

“…” Hiro swallowed the chocolate and wiped his mouth, “So what’s the big deal with this guy? Why do you respect him so much?”

 

Bryn turned on the ignition of her small blue Beetle car. As the engine purred to life, she replied, “He saved my brother.” Then she drove away.

 

“That still doesn’t tell me _anything_.” Hiro huffed and kicked at a pebble next to his feet. Darn, the night was a total bust. Grumbling to himself, he trudged the short way home. He could only hope that Tadashi wasn’t home yet or he was going to get an ear-ringing lecture he really didn’t need right now.

 

* * *

 

In the end, Gogo had ended up returning to the warehouse and waiting for Tadashi to return. With no idea where Tadashi was going, and having no access to that _network_ , she was essentially driving blind and only wasting expensive fuel. When she finally heard the familiar motor engine come close, she walked out of the warehouse and greeted Tadashi, “Hey. How nice of you to return.”

 

Tadashi gently braked his black motorbike. He let go of the handles and leaned back in the saddle, “Hey.”

 

“Take off your helmet. I don’t want to talk to my reflection or hear that modified voice.” Gogo said as she stepped closer to Tadashi. Tadashi briefly hesitated before he reached up to remove his black helmet. As soon as he had placed the helmet down, Gogo lashed out and punched him in the face.

 

“IDIOT! What the hell were you thinking, riding around in your old racing gear in the _open_??”

 

“I was protecting Hiro from getting beaten up.” Tadashi calmly said, having caught Gogo’s fist before it touched his face. “Please stop trying to beat me up, Gogo.”

 

“Let me go. _Now_.” Gogo scowled at him. Tadashi promptly released her. Gogo pulled back from him and shook her head, “I don’t really understand what you are thinking. You already swore not to return to the street-racing scene in order to protect Hiro, and now you’re throwing that away to do the same thing? Especially in those clothes, when you could have just gone as yourself. People are going to start talking if they caught sight of you.”

 

Tadashi dismounted from his bike and started wheeling it into the warehouse. He said, “Nah, that won’t happen. When I was there, no one took notice of me except for Yama and his men. Bryn as well. I’m not as conspicuous as you seem to think or fear. Besides, I would have stuck out like a sore thumb looking like a preppy college student in that kind of crowd.”

 

Gogo looked over Tadashi’s clothes and had to admit that he was right. He looked like any other normal motorcyclist and the incriminating pin was not large enough to be seen clearly from a distance. She asked, “Will they keep quiet? Is Hiro alright?”

 

“Bryn is loyal to a fault. She will keep quiet and Yama’s known to be a liar so not many people will listen to him. As far as anyone is concerned, _he_ did not appear tonight.” Tadashi replied with quiet confidence. “Bryn just sent Hiro home according to my GPS a few minutes ago and he’s completely unharmed.”

 

“Ah. I hope you’re right in your judgment.” Gogo commented dryly, “I still think you’re an idiot though.”

 

“You always say that, Gogo.” Tadashi laughed as he finally parked his motorcycle beside his scooter. He shrugged off his black leather jacket to reveal a white v-neck shirt. Gogo turned away and went outside to give him privacy as Tadashi changed his clothes.

 

Soon, Tadashi came out wearing his normal street clothes and pushing his scooter along. There was no trace of street racing to be found on the college student Tadashi. If Gogo had not known his true face under the black helmet, she would have not believed that Tadashi was actually Black Dragon, the notorious street racing King, half legend and half urban myth in the underworld.

 

Shaking her head, she waited for Tadashi to lock up the warehouse. When Tadashi tried to return the keys to her, she refused, “Nah. You keep them. I have a feeling you’ll need them more often than you think.”

 

“Gut instinct?” Tadashi closed his fingers around the keys with a raised eyebrow. Gogo smirked, “Maybe. They’ve always served me well over the years.”

 

“…Alright. Thanks for the keys.” Tadashi safely placed the keys into his satchel. Gogo got onto her bike first and split ways, “Night!”

 

“Good night to you too!” Tadashi checked his phone once more and was relieved to see that Hiro was now back home, safe and sound. He took out the spare phone that he had used to communicate with Byrn and texted her, “ _Good job, Khan_.”

 

Bryn quickly texted back, “ _No problem. May I know why you have an interest in the child?”_

_“Precisely because he is a child. He should not be involved with dangerous people or dangerous activities. I trust you.”_

_“I will look after him to the best of my ability. But he is reluctant to be ‘babysat’.”_

_“That’s fine. Just do your job and I’ll do mine. Bye.”_

_“…Bye.”_

With that, Tadashi took out the sim card from the spare phone and flicked it into the sea.

 

“Time to get a new sim card.” He muttered as he mounted his scooter and started the engine. He was looking forward to going home for a well-deserved shower, dinner and rest. It had been an exceptionally long day and night.

 

* * *

 

Hiro was surprised that Tadashi wasn’t home yet by the time he returned to Lucky Cat Café, seeing no sign of his familiar scooter. He checked the wall clock and saw that it was already almost midnight. Wondering where his brother was at such a late hour (…maybe a _date_?), he crept up to his bedroom, careful not to wake Aunt Cass in the living room on the second floor.

 

In his bedroom, Hiro placed his bag on the floor beside his table and carefully placed Megabot on the table. He took out the black card in his pocket and slapped it down with a scowl. He didn’t need a babysitter! The next time he saw Black Dragon, he was gonna punch him!

 

Ugh, he felt _grimy_ from all the sweat and engine smoke. Hiro sniffed his shirt and wrinkled his nose as the acrid smell of butane and gasoline assaulted his olfactory receptors. Yeah, time for another shower. It would also help to soothe his frazzled nerves.

 

Just then, familiar footsteps came up the stairs and Tadashi appeared. He looked tired as though he had been pulling a long nighter – _so definitely not a date_ – and he smiled upon seeing Hiro as though nothing else would please him more. Hiro blinked.

 

“Hey. Good to see you’re here.” Tadashi warmly greeted him as he took off his cardigan. 

 

“…Yeah. What’s up?” Hiro cautiously asked, wondering if Tadashi had some ulterior motive up his sleeve, because he certainly didn’t act like he was going to scold him for being out bot-fighting at late hours. But then again, Tadashi had come home later than him…

 

Tadashi walked to his side of the room, placing his satchel on his table as he replied, “Nothing much. Today was an awfully long day marking papers and I’ll be so _glad_ to be done with it.”

 

“How dull.” Hiro quipped.

 

“Terribly so. You won’t believe how dumb some of the students can be.” Tadashi continued as he rummaged through his closet for clean clothes. Hiro stepped over to the screen, remembering the black marks he had seen this morning. Maybe he could get a peek right now? But nope, no such luck. Tadashi carried a set of sleeping clothes and it was obvious that he was preparing for a shower as well. Then Hiro’s eyes widened, wait, no, _maybe_??

 

He waited until Tadashi had left down the stairs, not wanting to appear too suspicious. When the steps faded, he grabbed his own pajamas and flew down the stairs, only to bump into Tadashi who was clearly expecting him. He looked down at Hiro with a raised eyebrow, “Were you trying to pull a prank on me? You already got your payback this morning.”

 

“What prank?” Hiro asked, completely at a loss. There was no prank. Then he wrinkled his nose, the pungent smells of butane and gasoline assaulting his nose again. Pinching his nose, he whined, “Ew, have you been messing around again with your scooter?? You stink!”

 

Tadashi laughed, “Obviously. That’s why I’m going to the bathroom. The pranks can wait till morning. Truce?”

 

“Truce.” _Damn it!_

 

He just lost his chance to see what Tadashi had on his back. As Tadashi entered the bathroom, Hiro sniffed the air again, catching a faint foreign scent. It…smelled like _leather_ , like the motorcyclists’ clothes as a matter of fact. Since when did Tadashi come in close contact with leather to leave such a strong smell? His leather satchel didn’t have that strong enough of a smell.

 

Huh. How weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna live life, never be cruel,  
> I wanna live life, be good to you.  
> I wanna fly, never come down,  
> And live my life,   
> And have friends around.  
> We never change, do we?   
> We never learn, do we?  
> So I wanna live in a wooden house,  
> I wanna live life, always be true,  
> I wanna live life, and be good to you,  
> I wanna fly, and never come down,  
> And I live my life, and have friends around.  
> We never change do we? No, no,  
> We never learned to leave.  
> So I wanna live in a wooden house,  
> Making more friends would be easy.  
> Oh and I don't have a show to say,  
> Yes, and I sin every single day,  
> We never change, do we?  
> We never learned to leave.  
> So, I wanna live in a wooden house,  
> Making more friends would be easy,  
> I wanna live where the sun comes out.
> 
> We Never Change \- COLDPLAY


	6. Chapter 6

Hiro pensively stared at the black card on his desk. It had already been a few weeks since he went to Riot Run. In the meantime, he had gone back to his usual bot-fighting haunts for a few nights to make a quick buck. But he found it dull and tiresome. The opponents posed little excitement or challenge for him. Unlike the people whom he had gone up against at that tournament, the people of the back-alleys didn’t display the same creativity even if they were more violent. _Boring._

 

It also didn’t help much with Tadashi constantly lecturing him about his activities. Like dude, chill. Hiro already had it under control even if Tadashi didn’t see it that way. Honestly, it wasn’t like Hiro was still six and unable to defend himself. After a few times, Hiro had just stopped going. But out of pride, he really didn’t want to go to the semi-legal tournaments Bryn had talked about. He didn’t need to be babysat, thank you very much!

 

But god. Boredom was his bane. Without bot-fighting to kill time, Hiro was left with many empty hours with absolutely nothing to do and it was driving him nuts. He was actually tempted enough to go to SFIT with Tadashi just to see what the big deal was, but he decided against it. Why go to a place that would teach him redundant stuff he already knew?

 

Hiro groaned and planted his face into the desk. Aaaahhhhh he was so _BORED_. He didn’t even feel playing any games because he had already beaten them far too many times and knew the lines by heart. Hiro just didn’t feel like doing ANYTHING that he had already done before. So. What. Now. Hiro lazily swiveled his chair around. This was the absolute pits.

 

Making a slow 360 degree turn, Hiro finally faced his desk once more and the black card sat there placidly. It mocked him. Hiro squinted at it. Maybe...? Nooooope. Absolutely out of question! He wasn’t going to dance like a puppet at Black Dragon’s call.

 

But. But. Buuut. Maybe, Black Dragon wouldn’t be there if he went. Bryn hadn’t specified what her supervision would be like - it could be totally non-existent for all he knew. It sure seemed like her kind of style based on the conversation they had. Sooooo...was it worth a try? Hiro looked at the clock. It was now 11:45am. The second hand moved slowly at an agonising pace.

 

_Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock…_

 

Holy shit, he was going to go crazy and it wasn’t even noon yet. Hiro pulled at his hair. He glared at the card and hissed, “Okay you win.”

 

* * *

 

Tadashi received a ping on his mobile. He checked it and saw that it was from BiBoNet. He tapped the message to expand it. Ah. Hiro had finally signed in and created an account with the password Bryn gave him. He had also signed up for an upcoming botfighting competition tonight.

 

_...At least it’s one of Bryn’s competitions._

 

Tadashi felt slightly guilty for hiding this from Bryn - Black Dragon still had exclusive access to BiBoNet’s server files. It was a moment’s work for him to create a backdoor into Hiro’s account on the network. This way, he could keep tabs on Hiro’s activities more easily without compromising his identity as Black Dragon.

 

Of course, it was questionable using such invasive means but Tadashi felt it was justified after so many occasions of chasing after his wayward brother into dangerous places. Hiro just couldn’t stay out of trouble! Tadashi sighed. At least, Bryn could now help keep Hiro out of danger at the botfighting tournaments. Leaning back in his seat and ignoring his work for the moment, he quickly read through the information on the tournament. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to go in person as Black Dragon again.

 

Just to be sure, he checked in on Hiro’s GPS tracker and saw that he was still at home. Of course. The bot-fighting competition wouldn’t begin until after working hours when most of the participants were knocking off from work. Tadashi then checked the address of the venue. He barely refrained from palming his face.

 

_Fuck, not another street-racing venue!_

 

Even if it was common to share the same venue with street-racers due to the fact that they shared common interests in machinery (exchanging tips between bot-fighters and streetracers was encouraged), did Bryn have to choose such a far location? Where there were street-racers who might still remember Black Dragon’s legacy?

 

It was a distance Hiro would find difficult to travel alone without a private vehicle, especially after the public transport stopped running long before the competition would finish. God no, what if he decided to hitch a ride with a stranger?? Someone who had ill designs on Hiro… Tadashi shuddered. Maybe Black Dragon should show up again tonight, just in case.

 

* * *

 

Hiro wasn’t too happy when he realised that the bot-fighting competition was held in the outskirts of San Fransokyo like the previous tournament. Damn son, at this rate, his public transport expenses were going to skyrocket. (He wasn’t eligible for a student discount despite his age due to the technicality of not being a student so he had to pay the full adult fare. _Argh!_ )

 

He was also worried about how he was going to get home after the competition ended. Public transport this far out of the central district of San Fransokyo tended to stop running early. Hmm. Maybe he could ask Jay for a lift? That guy had been quite helpful…but again, there was no guarantee that a street racer would even be at a bot-fighting competition! Hiro grumbled.

 

Wait, maybe he should check BiBoNet again. There might be a separate street-racing event taking place nearby as well. Like the Spring Cup, it shouldn’t be too far of a stretch for other gatherings of street-racers to congregate near bot-fighters. Because duh, it would be a waste of a good opportunity to make a profit either through sales of tickets or bets (Hiro didn’t buy Bryn’s explanation for a second that the competitions were “clean” – where there is a will, there is always a way.)

 

Thankfully, BiBoNet did have a street-racing site for street-racers. While some features were blocked off due to the fact that he wasn’t registered as a street-racer, Hiro was still able to access the news and updates on the street-racing scene. Aha! He was right in his guess! There was indeed a street-racing event being held nearby, roughly about 5-10 minutes walk from the bot-fighting ring. Aaaawesome! Hiro pumped his arms in the air.

 

If the competition turned out to be crap, Hiro could always go over and watch the street-race. Bryn would also have to leave him alone then because she was only supposed to babysit him at the bot-fighting competitions. She could do nothing if Hiro was with the bikers. So, it was a win-win as far as he was concerned. Just as long as Black Dragon didn’t show up and ruin his night.

 

* * *

 

It felt quite strange to be the one doing the sneaking this time as Tadashi unlocked the door of Gogo’s warehouse-slash-garage. As he parked his scooter beside his black motorbike, Tadashi checked his watch. It was still relatively early but he had to account for the longer travelling times - he was avoiding the crowd of bikers en-route to the venue and would only go in at the tail end when most of the bikers had dissipated.

 

Tadashi pulled open the small closet near Gogo’s section of the garage and pulled out his street-racing clothes. Shrugging off his cardigan and hanging it on the clothes hanger, he pulled his shirt off. As he did so, he glimpsed his tattoo in the mirror. Right now, it only appeared black in this dim light but there was a secret in the dark sinuous shapes that would only be revealed in the right light. Tadashi still remembered how painful and long the tebori process had taken but it had been worth it.

 

He pulled on a plain white shirt. No time to waste day-dreaming about his tattoo. He had to hurry. His slacks came off, quickly replaced by form-fitting leather pants, streamlined to reduce air resistance at high speeds. His leather jacket with protective padding went on over his shirt and he zipped it up.

 

Tadashi then slipped off his sneakers and knelt down to pull on heavy racing boots. He firmly locked in the straps and tapped the clasps to make sure they were in place. Street-racing was a dangerous sport and the slightest oversight could be fatal. He stood up again and retrieved his racing gloves. He slid them on and flexed his hands to limber up the thick carbon-fiber fabric. He was almost done. He reached for the silver dragon pin in his pocket and fastened it to his lapel.

 

Tadashi looked at himself in the mirror, “Huh. I’m still amazed that these old clothes still fit.” It almost felt like coming home, wearing these sturdy clothes that protected him so many times in street-racing. There was one last item - the helmet that hid his face and changed his voice. He picked it up from the table where he had last left it and put it on. He closed the visor with a soft snap, masking his face behind impenetrable reflective glass. Black Dragon was now ready to ride.

 

* * *

 

Hiro stretched his back with sounds of vertebrae clicking together. It had been one loooong ride out here and he was so stiff. But at least he was here now at the botfighting competition. Hoisting his backpack over his shoulder, Hiro followed the crowd as bikers parked their bikes in the large parking lot behind him.

 

Unlike the street alleys or the stupendous stadium of Riot Run, this bot-fighting competition was being in held in an old boxing gym where the boxing rings had been converted into bot-fighting rings. Chairs were placed around the boxing rings so people could rest as they watched the sport.

 

And...oh my god is that what he thought it was?? Hiro dashed over to the makeshift bar towards the back of the gym near the former office rooms. He quickly slapped a few bills down on the counter and ordered, “Give me 2 bags of gummy bears! And a bottle of coke.”

 

Fantastic. Gummy bears while bot-fighting. He was loving this already. The bartender pocketed the bills and took out an ice-cold bottle of coke. He popped the cap open and slid it over to Hiro as he threw down two bags of gummy bears. Hiro eagerly took them and opened one bag. As he scoffed gummy bears and swigged coke from the bottle, he walked around the room to take in the competitors. He recognised some of them from Riot Run. Hiro wondered where Bryn was - wasn’t she supposed to “babysit” him?

 

“Hello Hiro. I’m glad that you are able to join us this evening.” Bryn’s voice spoke from behind him.

 

“Holy CRAP!” Hiro shouted, clutching his bag of gummy bears to his chest as he spun around to face Bryn. She raised an amused eyebrow at him and Hiro narrowed his eyes at her. Ooh. She was going to get it.

 

“Yes, well. But why does it have to be so far out from the center of San Fransokyo?” Hiro asked in lieu of a greeting. Bryn gestured him to follow her. She replied, “Isn’t it obvious?”

 

She pointed at the bikers that were mingling with the bot-fighters with her thumb, “We have a symbiotic partnership with the street-racers. It is fundamental to restoring prestige to street-racing and bot-fighting. In order to achieve that goal, we have to work together, and that includes going to places where we can all express our passions freely without being oppressed. I apologise if the location inconveniences you.”

 

All of this was completely abstract to Hiro. Sure, he understood what Bryn was saying but he couldn’t relate at all. Not without knowing the entire story. Hiro bit off the head of a gummy bear before he asked, “Okay. So what exactly went down years ago?”

 

Bryn frowned slightly, her red bindi twisting on her forehead. She was either reluctant to talk or did not know how to explain the story. Hiro withheld from scowling. Was this another one of Black Dragon’s commandments?

 

“Hey, there you are, _Bahiin_! Is this the boy you were telling me about?” A jovial voice interrupted as a young indian man ambushed Bryn with a hug. Bryn slapped his hands away, “ _Bhaiyaa_! Stop it!”

 

“Um, who are you?” A bewildered Hiro asked as he noted the strong familial resemblance between the stranger and Bryn. A frazzled Bryn smoothed out her braid and huffed, “This is my fraternal twin brother Bhari.”

 

”Yep, I’m older than her by two minutes! So I get all the elder sibling rights.” Bhari joked. He held out his hand in a handshake and Hiro shook it with a hesitant smile, unsure of what to make of Bhari’s exuberant behaviour. Bhari told Bryn, “You might want to check on the staff. They’re in a bit of a pickle. Something about not enough space for the bikers.”

 

“Not again -”  Bryn sighed “-Fine. Look after Hiro. You’re his new chaperone.” Gathering her skirts, she disappeared into the crowd leaving Bhari alone with Hiro. Hiro belatedly realised that Bryn still hadn’t answered his question about what happened years ago to cause bot-fighting and street-racing to be outlawed. He smacked his forehead. Maybe he should just forget the whole thing and just get to the bot-fights. He had cash to win.

 

“So. Hiro. I heard from Bryn that you’re quite the troublemaker.” Bhari pleasantly said. Hiro continued eating more gummy bears, buying time to gauge Bhari’s character. He was harder to read than Bryn. Bhari gestured to the chairs, “Let’s sit, shall we? My leg acts up if I stand for too long.”

 

Hiro remembered what Bryn had said the last time before she drove away - Black Dragon had saved her brother before - was the lame leg due to that? He nodded, “Sure. I’ve got loads of questions to ask you.”

 

“I’m sure you do. You’re a newcomer after all.” Bhari stretched his left leg out after sitting down on a chair. Hiro followed suit, curiously wondering what had caused the injury. The indian man saw his curious gaze and he waved his hand over his leg, “I was caught in a bad road accident. Bryn already told you that Black Dragon saved my life, didn’t she?”

 

“Yeah. Bryn also told me that Black Dragon is like some kind of authority to you guys, a king, she said?”

 

“Aaah no. Black Dragon is not just a king. He is the King. Subtle difference but an important one.”

 

“I don’t understand.” Hiro bluntly said. What difference did it actually make? Bhari tossed out a non sequitur, “Who do you think is the King of Rock?”

 

“Um…?”

 

“Is it Elvis Presley? Or is it Chuck Berry? Solomon Burke perhaps? They’re all famous musicians by the way. It’s okay if you’re not familiar with any of them, but who do you think is the King of Rock?”

 

“Elvis? He’s the only one I’m familiar with.” Hiro replied, wondering where this conversation was leading. Bhari nodded sagely, “Yes, many would say that. But others would dispute that claim. There are also other musicians deserving of that acclaim. So in that case, Elvis would no longer be the King, but just a king among other kings. Do you follow?”

 

“Oh. So you’re saying that…” Hiro paused, his mind easily making the connections. No way could Black Dragon be that _important_. Bhari nodded, “Yes. Black Dragon is the _King_ of all the street-racers within San Fransokyo Bay Area, not just good old San Fransokyo. There is no other man who can stand on the same level as him or hope to command such awe. Crazy but true.”

 

Hiro had to take a moment to digest this information. What the _hECK_. It was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. Why wasn’t this common knowledge then?? But wait Yama had also said something about how Black Dragon had been gone for years. Bryn also said the same. Then why did Black Dragon show up only recently? Something was fishy.

 

“Wait. Bryn said that Black Dragon had been absent for a few years. Why is he still so important then?”

 

“Ah...That’s a bit of a long story. I don’t know why the King suddenly disappeared but he probably has good reasons for doing so. Especially with the huge price the Yakuza have set on his head for disrupting their control over street-racing and bot-fighting…It’s thanks to Black Dragon’s efforts that we are able to sit here like this tonight without having to worry about Yakuza,” Bhari nonchalantly said as he turned his attention to the bot-fighting ring. He scratched his curly hair before covering his mouth in a yawn.

 

 _Yakuza_. Hiro should have expected that but he was still too unprepared for it. Holy shit. The situation was getting too wild. It didn’t feel real. He shook his head. Never mind. It didn’t concern him anyway and as far as he was concerned, Black Dragon was still an asshole. Tying up his half-empty bag of gummy bears, Hiro opened up his backpack to keep it safely and withdrew Megabot and the controllers. He had wasted too much time on this conversation with Bhari.

 

“Alright, thanks for the info. I’m gonna have some fun.”

 

“I do have to tell you that betting is not allowed here. However, if you want to win cash…” Bhari lazily motioned him to come closer “...you can set down a fixed sum of cash as prize money for any duels you participate in. The opponent will of course have to at least match or top it in the jackpot, either in cash or any item of equal value - you can actually win priceless machine parts this way, you know. But that depends on what your opponent's got.”

 

“Hmm.” Hiro thought through this carefully, while his earnings would be significantly reduced as he wasn’t taking cash from the audience anymore, he still stood a fair chance of raking in large sums of money. Machine parts also sounded very attractive.

 

“Alright, sounds good. How do I start?”

 

Bhari grinned, his canines showing. He gestured to the ring in front of them, “Just go up there and tell the referee what you are putting down as the prize. Then get ready to fight. Have fun.”

 

“I will!” Hiro grinned back, pumped to finally get some real action after weeks. He bounded up to the ring and ducked through the ropes. Taking out a modest wad of cash (best to start small to lure in the victims and lull them into a false sense of security), he placed it into the earthen pot by the referee and plopped himself down on the cushion. He was ready.

 

Time to rumble!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Glossary**  
>  **Tebori** \- [Info here](http://tokyofashion.com/horimyo-traditional-japanese-tebori-tattoo-artist/)  
>  **bahiin** \- hindi for younger sister  
>  **bhaiyaa** \- hindi for elder brother


	7. Chapter 7

Hiro steadily worked his way through the growing queue of would-be challengers as his jackpot grew with every win. Megabot danced to his whims, easily knocking the robots out of the ring. His challengers shook their heads in awed disbelief but gracefully accepted their loss. It had only been about an hour since he started and people were starting to notice the young prodigy bot-fighter. The area around boxing ring Hiro occupied was jam-packed with spectators and growing even more crowded still.

 

Bhari cupped his chin with a grin, “Oy, oy, oy, Bahiin didn’t tell me that this kid was that _good_ …I’d thought he was just a troublemaker. This is getting exciting.”

 

“What are you doing, Bhari?? You were supposed to keep an eye on Hiro!” Bryn pushed through the crowd, fire blazing in her eyes. She crossed her arms as she fiercely glared at her brother. Bhari grinned up at her, “I am keeping an eye on him. He hasn’t gone anywhere and he’s having fun. No rules are being broken here, I promise.”

 

“You’re bending the rules!” Bryn hissed. Bhari shrugged his shoulders, “Nah. There’s no rule in the book that forbids Hiro from challenging other opponents and increasing his prize money, is there? It’s all legitimate even if he’s being a little shit about it.”

 

Much to her irritation, she had to concede defeat to Bhari’s logic. She retorted, “You’re terrible, Bhari. Why are you deliberately putting Hiro into the spotlight?”

 

“Hey, I’m just making sure that Hiro’s having fun! With you, he’d be totally bored and itching to make trouble! Far worse trouble than you could handle, especially with his track record. It’s quite amazing that the Yaks haven’t heard of this guy before now.” Bhari smirked as he leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs.

 

Bryn glanced over at the ring. Hiro was grinning as he won yet another round. He looked very much like the young teenager he was and clearly in his element. Bryn sighed. She looked around to assess the situation, “Fine. You watch Hiro while I go and sort out some crowd control for this. It’s getting too packed here as it is. It’s fortunate that the motorists’ race is starting soon and they should be on their way out, if they aren’t already.”

 

“You do that, Bryn. You have it all under control.” Bhari waved at her encouragingly. Bryn shot him an irritated look, “You could help, you know! You were a _biker_ so you know how to deal with them better.”

 

“Keyword: _were_. You know that I don’t have that much clout anymore. I’m watching Hiro like you asked me to.” Bhari corrected her with a shake of his finger.

 

“Hrghh…!” Bryn huffed and strode away, exasperated with her brother’s unhelpfulness. Bhari chuckled as he watched her leave; it was always funny seeing her lose her cool. But really, why was Bryn allowing such a troublemaker with a track record for hustling and scams into her vaunted tournaments; when she despised such people?

 

* * *

 

The street-race was already over by the time Black Dragon reached the venue. Most of the bikers had departed for their hometowns; easily more than an hour’s drive away. The remaining bikers chose to watch the conveniently nearby botfighting competition in the boxing gym. Parking his motorbike in the shade of a tree away from the other vehicles, Black Dragon fingered the silver pin on his jacket. Should he remove it…?

 

An inebriated couple stumbled too close to him, “Whoops! Sorry dude!” as the other giggled, leaning heavily on the slightly more sober person. Black Dragon shook his head, “Be more careful.”

 

“You remind me of Darth Vader! You know, with that all black scheme you got going…” The giggly green-haired man gesticulated enthusiastically at him, almost tipping over if not for his equally giggly friend’s support. Black Dragon inclined his head, “Thank you. I would recommend you drink plenty of water when you get home. Take a cab. You shouldn’t drive while drunk.”

 

“Yeah! Thanks for the advice, Darth Vader! You’re one cool dude.” With a wobbly wave, they stumbled off into the dark. Black Dragon watched them for a short while until they flagged down a taxi and climbed into it. Good grief. They were probably new if they hadn’t recognised his pin even at such a close distance. But they had also been quite sloshed, so it wasn’t certain.

 

Ah well. Better to be safe than sorry. Keeping Gogo’s words in mind, Black Dragon removed the pin from his jacket and kept it in his pocket. Only those who really knew him would still be able to identify him even among a crowd of similarly dressed bikers.

 

* * *

Hiro was buzzing with a combination of adrenaline and sugar-high (from two bottles of coke and nearly 3 pounds worth of gummy bears), as he raked in another wad of cash. Yesss, he was on a roll! Bhari was also awesome for giving him that tip on the prize system. Even if his winnings were severely curtailed by the rules that forbid betting, it still didn’t prevent his opponents from borrowing cash from their friends/audience to match his stakes. Using the fibonacci formula, Hiro easily made bank in less than twenty rounds.

 

It was time for the finale.  

 

“Who’s next? Who wants to try and take me on?” He fanned a wad of green dollars in his hand as he toothily grinned. The queue of would-be opponents had dwindled to only a handful once the people realised that they couldn’t match his stakes.

 

When there were no takers as he expected, Hiro lowered his wad and began straightening out the  wrinkled notes. He said, “Okay…if there are no takers because I’m too good, I’ll give you an handicap – instead of using my Megabot, hand me a bot of your choosing and I’ll defeat your bot with _that_. If I lose, I’ll give _all_ of my winnings to you. But if I win…well, you’re broke. So think carefully before you try to take me on. You saw what happened to those poor guys earlier.”

 

The crowd began murmuring loudly, intrigued by his announcement. The remaining opponents looked spooked by his bold claim. Hiro waited.

 

_One…two…three…four..._

 

When ten seconds were up, Hiro stood up and announced, “Okay, sorry guys. Time’s up. I’ve gotta get home for bed, you know!”

 

He waved at his audience with a cocky smirk and made a grandiose bow. The crowd began to reluctantly applaud him, impressed by his audacity and skill. Hiro preened.

 

The doors opened to reveal a biker dressed in black like so many other bikers. Moving quickly and confidently, he flowed through the crowd like water, easily making his way towards his boxing ring. Hiro squinted against the bright glare of the lights, wondering why the newcomer hadn’t taken off his helmet like most of the bikers. He didn’t even have his visor up…oh. Oh. _OH_.

 

Hiro had only met him once, but he would never forget Black Dragon’s refined economical movements that had so easily disabled the thugs. His distinctive cold, commanding air had people instinctively making way for him (wait...the silver pin wasn’t there anymore?) It rankled Hiro to no end and made him itch to take him down a few pegs.

 

What the hell was Black Dragon doing here??

 

* * *

 

Black Dragon didn’t approach Hiro. Instead, he went to Bhari. Bhari’s eyes widened as he recognised him, reminiscent of Bryn’s first reaction, “Holy _crap_. It’s really you. I thought Bryn was pulling my leg. Long time no see, dude.”

 

“Good to see you too, Bhari. How’s the leg?” Black Dragon greeted him. Bhari shrugged, “Eh. It’s okay. Aches like hell on cold rainy days.”

 

“I see. Where’s Bryn?”

 

“I’m here, sir.” Bryn had seen his entrance and hurried over to them. Harried from the long busy night, she sharply asked, “Why did you not tell me you were coming tonight? I would have prepared a suitable welcome for you.”

 

Black Dragon held up his hand, “Thank you for your consideration. But I still intend to keep a low profile. So please hold off on any arrangements.”

 

Bryn grudgingly acquiesced. She glanced to where Hiro was and asked Black Dragon, “Hiro’s safe just as you asked. But he’s so _young_ …should he even be here at all?”

 

“Trust me, he’s far safer here with you around to keep an eye on things.” Black Dragon crossed his arms as he turned his head to observe Hiro. The teenager was now climbing off the ring with his prize money. Momentarily disappearing from view among the crowd due to his short height, Hiro remerged in front of them with a fierce scowl on his face.

 

“ _You._ ” Hiro pointed his finger at Black Dragon accusingly. He said, “How dare you kick me out the last time, you _asshole_! I challenge you to a bot-duel!”

 

Both Bhari and Bryn incredulously stared at Hiro, not able to believe his utter audacity. Bhari was faster to recover and he laughed, “Hahaha, this is _hilarious_. Kid, Black Dragon isn’t a bot-fighter. Besides, why would he agree to take on your challenge? Already forgot my little spiel earlier?"

 

Hiro vehemently disagreed, “So?? He’s not my King! I don’t _care_ who he is; he’s still a jerkass who cost me my winnings from the last competition and thinks I need to be _babysat_. I’m not a _kid_.”

 

Bryn anxiously looked to Black Dragon, waiting to see how he would respond to Hiro’s unexpected challenge. Black Dragon unfolded his arms and held his hands out in a show of peace, “I apologise if I offended you with my rough treatment the last time. However, do you realise that you’re the youngest attendant here at the bare age of 14? Forgive me as I thought it prudent to arrange a chaperone for you.”

 

Hiro only grew angrier, his messy hair bristling in his ire. He hissed venomously, “I’ve been playing this game for much _longer_ than you think and I’m not that _weak_ or _stupid_. I’ve been running circles around those dark alley bot-fighting circuits without your _help_. I don’t need your babysitters.”

 

Hiro pointed at Black Dragon again, “I repeat. I challenge you to a bot-duel.”

 

“…Fine.” Black Dragon accepted the challenge, much to the twins' surprise. He calmly asked Hiro, “I would be happy to take you on but I do not possess a fighting-bot. Like Bhari says, I am not a bot-fighter while you are a seasoned illegal bot-fighter. So you have an overwhelming advantage. How do you propose to level the field?”

 

Hiro confidently replied, "...Alright. How about this? If I'm unable to knock your bot out of the ring within-" he held up one finger "-one minute, it’s my loss. Is that doable?”

 

“That’s fair.” Black Dragon inclined his head. Hiro derisively snorted, “I’m not done yet! If you lose, you lose that helmet!”

 

* * *

 

Black Dragon assessed Hiro for a few long moments in inscrutable silence. Hiro could not read any hint of his true thoughts in his still relaxed stance and only saw his face reflecting off the dark glass visor. It was quite daunting as though he was standing in front of a fierce dragon ready to bite him in half. The twins were disinclined to break the tense silence as they watched the stand-off.

 

Miraculously, they didn’t draw much attention from the others. Most had already moved on to other boxing rings to watch the other bot-fights. Black Dragon’s cold demeanour easily warned the loitering few away. Hiro felt as though they were enclosed in a bubble, the background noise fading as he stared back at Black Dragon, unwilling to back down.

 

“A bold challenge. If you demand such a price, I shall also demand an equal price in return if I win”, Black Dragon finally said, his mechanical voice devoid of any emotion. It creeped Hiro out to hear that flat, toneless voice but at the same time it really ticked him off. Hiro narrowed his eyes, “Yeah? What are your terms?”

 

“If you lose, you shall donate all your winnings to Bryn’s BiBoNet and refrain from extortion attempts in future tournaments.”

 

Pfft. Ridiculous. Hiro couldn’t imagine that happening so he easily agreed, “Yeah, that’s fine. I already said that I was gonna give my winnings away if I lost before you came in.”

 

Hiro then cheekily waved at Bryn, “Heey, can you go and pick out two bots??”

 

Bryn frowned and looked to Black Dragon for confirmation. Bhari got up from his seat and rubbed the back of his head. He asked Black Dragon, “Are you really serious about this, dude? This is quite a big deal the kid’s asking for… We’ve never seen your face not even _once_ during your racing years, hell, I don’t even know your _real name_ \- not that we really mind, but with the Yaks now out for your head...”

 

Any traces of lingering humour cleared from Bhari’s face. He questioned, “Is this really _wise_? To reveal your long-hidden secret to this _outsider_ who doesn’t even know about you and what you did for us. He’s not all talk, by the way.”

 

“I have a plan.” Black Dragon softly said, too quiet for Hiro to hear. He would not be swayed from his decision.

 

“Dude, I hope you haven’t gone _soft_ during your absence. He might not even be fifteen, but he’s a pro. He’ll crush you if you’re not careful.” Bhari reluctantly conceded, giving him a last warning. Black Dragon nonchalantly shrugged, “I’m aware of his skill.”

 

Well then. The King had made his decision.

 

Bhari glanced at Bryn and held up his hands with a shake of his head. Bryn nodded before she darted off to procure the fighting bots. Bhari pushed his hair back and said, “Okay. You guys will need a private venue to fight in as you’re going to draw too much attention. Especially when the people start recognising you, Black Dragon. Follow me.”

 

Black Dragon was already moving before Bhari was finished, “The same place as the last time?”

 

“Yep. Good to see you still remember even after all these years,” Bhari then snapped his fingers at Hiro, “Hurry up, _baalak_. Chop, chop.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. What does that mean, anyway?” Hiro grumbled as he hurried after them. Bhari only grinned, “That’s for you to find out. It’s hindi by the way.”

 

“How helpful.” Hiro sarcastically said.

 

* * *

 

The place Black Dragon spoke of, was located in the basement of the boxing gym. It was a conference room with a circular table that was suitable for bot-fighting. Bryn had met them there with two bots of similar make - somehow, she had managed to find a bot-fighter who prefered to make bots rather than actually fight with them in his pursuit of perfecting his crafting techniques.

 

“So. Are we gonna start now?” Hiro finally asked. He fiddled with the controls that Bryn had handed him earlier, familiarising himself with the bot’s movements and capabilities. Black Dragon was also doing the same. With a flick of the joystick, he made his bot move to the center of the ring. He was ready.

 

“Prepare to eat dirt!” Hiro smirked. He was so _ready._

 

* * *

 

“ _Unbelievable_.” That was all Hiro could say as he dumbfoundedly stared at his bot on the floor. He wasn’t sure what happened, but he had been this close to knocking Black Dragon’s bot out when Black Dragon did something and somehow reversed their positions and...shit.

 

He. Had. **_Lost_**.

 

He looked up at Black Dragon. His shocked face reflected back at him in the dark visor. Hiro realised that his mouth was open and quickly shut it as his cheeks burned with humiliation and mortification. He tossed the controller onto the table and slammed his hands on the table, “What the _hell_. You said you weren’t a botfighter. Were you _lying_?!”

 

Bryn crossed her arms, “No, he was not lying. You have lost fair and square. You must now honor your end of the deal.”

 

Bhari was of no help either as he leaned against the wall, easing the weight off his weak leg. He dismissively waved off Hiro’s glare, “Sorry, rules are still rules, _memana_. You both agreed on the terms. Admit it. You lost.”

 

Black Dragon stood up from his chair. He said to Hiro, “It was a good game. Until next time.”

 

As Hiro struggled for words, he strode over to the door as he said to Bryn, “Give Hiro a lift back to his home if you will. It’s already late.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Good.” With that, Black Dragon disappeared into the dark hallway.

 

Bhari waited a few beats and commented, “Dude. Black Dragon’s still just as terrifying as ever. I’m amazed that you had the sheer balls to challenge him...Hiro? Are you okay?”

 

Hiro paused in banging his head on the table. He yelled, “NO!! I AM NOT **_OKAY_.** ”

 

He hit his head on the table one last time. He pulled down the hood over his head and screamed in his head, “ _FFFFFFFFFFF-!!!!!_ ”

  
Black Dragon was a goddamn _mizuchi_!!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Glossary**  
>  **Baalak** : baby (m)  
>  **Memana** : lamb  
>  **Mizuchi** : A malicious [water dragon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuchi) that kills humans with poison
> 
> Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.


	8. Chapter 8

“Hiro, are you alright?” Aunt Cass asked in concern as she watched Hiro at the table. The young teen had been quite absent-minded the whole morning - pouring orange juice into his bowl of cereals, stumbling into furniture, almost breaking his neck when walking down the stairs, and now he was just staring off into the distance with a mug of cooling tea in his hand. There was no reply. Aunt Cass sighed. She snapped her fingers in front of Hiro’s face.

 

“Bwuh? What?” Hiro blinked, focusing on Aunt Cass. She put her hands on her hips and repeated, “Are you alright? You’ve been completely out of it the whole morning! If you are going to be like this for the rest of the day, dear, you really should rest!”

 

Aunt Cass reached out to feel her nephew’s forehead to check for a fever but he leaned away from her, “I’m okay, really! I was just thinking!”

 

“Thinking about what?” Aunt Cass picked up a biscuit from the plate full of chocolate chip cookies. She bit off a piece as she waited for Hiro to reply. Hiro put down his mug of tea. He grinned at her, “It’s no big deal.”

 

He didn’t want Aunt Cass to find out that he had been bot-fighting last night. Thankfully, Tadashi hadn’t found out either and he had already left for college before Hiro woke up. Aunt Cass didn’t seem convinced and she reached out for another cookie. As she munched her cookie, she said, “Well, it’s certainly a big deal if it has you in a daze! Are you sure you’re up to helping me out in the cafe today?”

 

“Well…” Hiro rubbed his neck and laughed nervously. He really should be helping Aunt Cass out with the cafe but he was still stewing on the events of last night and that asshole who had beaten him. He was going to be of no help. Aunt Cass sighed and patted Hiro’s hair.

 

“Alright, dear. You have the day off today. You’ve clearly got something on your mind and I don’t want you breaking plates in the cafe today.”

 

“Ah...yeah thanks...” Hiro slumped in his chair. Aunt Cass started clearing away the plates. She briskly said, “Why don’t you have lunch with Tadashi at SFIT? I’m sure that he’ll appreciate having a break from his classes.”

 

“Uughh...SFIT’s so _far_!!” Hiro whined. He didn’t want to travel all the way to SFIT on the edge of Hakuro-nishiki Park. Besides, he heard far too many complaints from Tadashi how crappy the canteen food was. Aunt Cass only laughed as she placed the plates into the sink, “Don’t worry, I’ll give you some extra pocket money for the transport fare. Besides, your forgetful older brother forgot to take his lunch! You don’t want him to starve, do you?”

 

“Really? Tadashi forgot his lunch…?” Hiro raised his eyebrows his surprise. He glanced over to the countertop beside the microwave oven and saw the familiar brown paper bag with Lucky Cat Café’s logo on it. Huh. Tadashi had indeed forgotten. It was a bit odd, considering that Tadashi could be a complete pig when it came to food, especially with Aunt Cass’s home-cooked food, with pizza coming in at a close second. Apparently, it was a normal phenomenon with most college students to pig out on junk food as though preparing for arduous battle in their classes, or committing suicide via cardiac arrest and poor nutrition.

 

Hiro groaned. Reluctantly resigning himself for a long journey to SFIT’s campus, he nodded, “Fine. I’ll deliver Tadashi’s lunch. What an idiot.”

 

* * *

Tadashi blearily rubbed his eyes, struggling to stay awake as he pored over his thesis. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep, having returned very late from the docks and having to get up early for classes. He grimaced. This had better not become a regular thing because he didn’t think he would be able to keep up this kind of schedule for long.

 

Not unless Tadashi managed to find another more convenient place to store his Black Dragon gear. But _where_? He twirled his pencil around his fingers as he mused on it. Hmm...could he actually try storing his motorcycle _here_ on SFIT campus? Of course, he would have to register for another parking permit for that motorcycle but it should be easy enough doing that, considering how many students often lost their parking permits. If not, well...there was always the illegal method even if he didn’t really like using them.

 

Yes, this would work, Tadashi nodded to himself. No more rushing to and fro and tiring himself out in the process. Glancing over to Baymax’s red case, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Hiro’s expression when he defeated him the night before. It had been very... _funny_. It had been ages since he last saw Hiro look so gobsmacked.

 

Unlike what Hiro might think, Tadashi was no bot-fighting expert. He’d only won because he was very familiar with Hiro’s bot-fighting strategies after so many years listening and watching him play with his robots. He had even taught Hiro some of the strategies when they were younger. So it had been fairly easy to preempt Hiro’s actions. However, that strategy might not have worked so well if Hiro had been less overconfident and decided to use his Megabot instead. Megabot was not just one robot; it was three in one! Using a normal robot against Megabot would have been difficult, if not impossible.

 

His stomach growled. Tadashi checked his watch and was startled to see that it was already past lunch-hour. The thesis had taken more time than he thought. He reached for his satchel and dug around in it for his lunch.

 

“Oh, for god’s sake.” Tadashi grumbled when he couldn’t find his lunch bag. He must have forgotten to take it with him in his sleep-deprived state. Sighing, he reached in for his wallet. Looked like it was going to be canteen food for lunch.

 

Leaving his lab and shutting it behind him, Tadashi noticed that his friends were crowded at the door. Wondering what the fuss was about, he walked over to them.

 

Honey Lemon cooed, “Oh, that’s so sweet of you! Coming all the way here to bring lunch for Tadashi!”

 

Wait. This couldn’t be whom he was thinking. Tadashi hurried over and was pleasantly surprised to see Hiro. Hiro raised an eyebrow at him and shoved the brown paper bag at him, “You forgot your lunch, nerd! Aunt Cass said that you’re treating me to lunch.”

 

Tadashi smiled as he gratefully accepted his lunch. Hiro crossed his arms and tapped his foot, “Let’s go eat. I’m starving! Do you have any idea how troublesome it was for me to travel here? I don’t even have a license or a vehicle like you!”

 

“Do you want to come with us for lunch then?” Honey Lemon kindly offered. Fred, Wasabi and Gogo didn’t have any objections and smiled encouragingly at him. Hiro looked bewildered, “Me?”

 

“Yes, you! Tadashi’s told us so much about you. I’m very excited to meet you in person, amiguito!” She smiled brightly at Hiro. Hiro glanced at Tadashi, hesitance showing in his expression, unused to dealing with such offers with no ulterior motive. He shook his head, “Ah, maybe next time…? I’m in kind of a rush - Aunt Cass needs me back at the café after lunch.”

 

Honey Lemon nodded, “Okay, we’ll take a raincheck on that! It’s been lovely to meet you. See you next time!"

 

Gogo commented to Tadashi as they left, “Hiro’s smaller than I thought.”

 

“Don’t say that to his face. He’s very sensitive about his height.” Tadashi whispered softly, not wanting Hiro to hear. Gogo smirked, “I’m sure.”

 

When both Tadashi and Hiro were finally alone, Tadashi hefted the paper bag that contained his lunch - now relegated to a late tea snack - and smiled at Hiro, “Thanks for delivering my lunch! What do you want to eat?”

 

“Thai! I saw one on the way here.” Hiro eagerly replied, bouncing on his feet in anticipation. Tadashi concealed a fond laugh, “Alright, thai it is. Wait a sec, I’m going to get my stuff.”

 

Hiro didn’t listen though, following him back to his lab, “Nah, I want to see what your lab is like! I want to see what’s so great about your lab that has you spending most of your time here during the week.”

 

_Oh. Have I really been so busy with my studies that I neglected Hiro…?_

 

Feeling a twinge of guilt at the thought, Tadashi swiped his keycard and gently steered his younger brother into his lab as the door opened. He placed the lunchbag on his desk and leant against his desk as he gestured to his lab, “Welcome to my lab!”

 

Hiro looked around, taking in the neat organised notes Tadashi had pinned to the corkboards, the miscellany of robotic parts lying on a workdesk and a bright red case sitting under the circular window that looked out to the front courtyard full of sakura trees. It was spacious and felt very _Tadashi_. He grudgingly said, “It’s nice...You’ve got a lot of space here for your stuff.”

 

Tadashi chuckled and reached out to ruffle Hiro’s hair, “But it’s not like home. In fact, it feels kind of bare without your clutter.”

 

_It would be great if you ever considered enrolling into SFIT...but that’s your choice to make._

 

Hiro huffed and ducked out from under Tadashi’s hand, “Whatever. Let’s go and eat lunch.”

 

Just then, Hiro’s stomach growled. As Hiro’s cheeks pinked, Tadashi laughed, “Okay, okay, your stomach has made its demands clear. To lunch.”

 

“I hate you.” Hiro elbowed Tadashi’s side as he stomped out of the lab.

 

* * *

 

The Investigations Bureau of San Fransokyo Police Department was busy as ever, bustling with officers and plainclothes detectives on duty. A man in a rumpled coat slammed the door open as he slouched in with a mug of coffee in his hand. He carried folders under his other arm and he had a black scowl on his face.

 

“Abbascia, what’s with that look on your face?” One of the more daring colleagues asked him as he finally sat at his desk. Carran gave him a gimlet glare and slammed his hand on the folders, “The yakuza are making a comeback in the underground. Motherfuckers!”

 

“Aw shit. That ain’t good. How bad is it?” His colleague winced, recalling the bad days when the yakuza were in power. It had been a crazy time then in San Fransokyo, trying to weed out the yakuza that pervaded the streets.

 

“It’s still early. They’re being cautious from what I hear. But they’ve only just started speeding up because there’s no one in the underground B&B to stem their comeback. After all, what the yakuza want is money and B&B is a very profitable source of revenue for them.” Carran took a deep swig of his coffee as he booted up his computer. He needed to find a way to prevent a new yakuza infestation.

 

“Oh, ok. Good luck then. I suppose you’ll be creating a crack team like the last time?”

 

“If it is necessary.”

Carran opened the folders to look at the map of San Fransokyo. Yakuza were increasing their activities along the coastline, undoubtedly aided by illegal smugglers in the Bay. The San Fransokyo Police Department were going to be stretched thin if they couldn’t stop them. Unless…they had extra help.

 

_I wonder if you’re still around, Drago Nero. We could use some reinforcements._

 


	9. Chapter 9

“Is SFIT keeping you busy?”

 

Hiro’s question was unexpected and Tadashi jerked up from his bowl of green chicken curry, “Pardon?”

 

Across the table from him, his younger brother leaned back in his chair, balancing precariously on two legs, much to his consternation. He placed his hands behind his head as he readied to speak but Tadashi sternly interrupted, “Hiro, stop doing that. You’re going to fall.”

 

“Law of physics says that I’m not gonna fall,” Hiro flippantly said as he rocked back and forth on two legs. Tadashi restrained the urge to palm his face and gave it up as a lost cause. Hiro continued, “What have you been doing at SFIT that keeps you late?”

 

Tadashi had no clue what Hiro was talking about. As far as he knew, he had been consistent with his studies and he wasn’t staying late in SFIT. Hiro easily read his confusion and set his chair back down on four legs much to Tadashi’s internal relief. Propping his chin on his hand, he sighed, “Good grief, space cowboy. Come back down to earth. It’s a good thing Aunt Cass sent me out to have lunch with you. Coming back late at nights, and leaving early in the mornings, to the point of even forgetting your lunch!”

 

Oh. Now he understood. Tadashi chuckled and Hiro scowled, “What is so funny?”

 

“Nothing. Come on, finish your food. You don’t want to keep Aunt Cass waiting.”

 

Right, Hiro didn’t know his secret identity after all, so it must have looked like he was returning late from SFIT. Thankfully, Hiro hadn’t looked much further into it so his secret was safe for now. But for how much longer could Tadashi keep up the charade? It had been so much simpler years ago when Hiro was still preoccupied with high school and _not_ (with extra emphasis) participating in street bot-fights (in hindsight it was really quite a relief because it had been really... _rough_ then.)

 

At least, things were easier now. Hiro wasn’t as sickly like he used to be as a young child. Lucky Cat Café was turning a tidy profit margin with a loyal customer base. There was no longer a need to race illegally for prize money to support their family. But sometimes… Tadashi didn’t finish the train of thought. It was too tempting and dangerous to contemplate. Maintaining a low profile for his family’s safety was far more important than his own selfish desires.

 

“Are you gonna give me a lift back home?” Hiro wiped his mouth with the wet napkin after burping. Tadashi pushed back his seat and got up, “Yes, of course. Stay here, I’m going to pay the bill.”

 

Hiro shrugged his shoulders, silently saying, yeah he wasn’t going anywhere. Tadashi rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair on his way to the counter, smiling as he heard Hiro’s growl.

 

* * *

 

Carran was busy at his desk, collating information on yakuza movements in the other towns around the San Fransokyo Bay Area. He had already assembled a small team of analysts and field agents, cherry-picking from the SFPD traffic division. But they were still far too green compared to the team he had led eight years ago. The old team members had either already retired from the force or transferred to other divisions. Still, it was better than nothing and Carran thought that the yakuza situation wouldn’t be as bad as the first time, with most of the ringleaders still in jail.

 

After all, it was easier to nip a problem in the bud than to tame an overgrown hedge. Either way, it was still less stressful (and easier on his sanity) compared to the Homicide Division where he used to work in. His phone rang.

 

“Inspector Abbascia speaking.”

 

“This is Bryn. I was informed you needed intel.”

 

Pleased, Carran greeted her, “Thank you for being prompt. I need to know the current number of yakuza in San Fransokyo Bay Area, and if possible, could your network find out who the new ringleader is?”

 

“It sounds dangerous. Are you asking me to risk my people for intel?” Bryn’s voice was professional and cutting as always. Carran shrugged, “No more than what I would ask of mine, Miss Khan. Besides, your people have ways of getting information that we don’t have. We’re quite conspicuous, you have to admit.”

 

“I wouldn’t say that.” Bryn rebutted. She paused, before she continued in a measured tone, “…But, yes. I will give you the intel you need. Yakuza cannot be permitted to return to power in San Fransokyo.”

 

Carran replied, “Excellent. When is the soonest I can expect to receive intel?”

 

“In three days. But the moment my spies are in danger, I’m withdrawing them. They aren’t trained policemen.”

 

“Of course.”

 

“In exchange for our network’s services, you will continue to turn a blind eye to our tournaments as you have always done.”

 

“Yes, of course. I have absolutely no interest in arresting you and everyone else who’s attending. Far too much work as it is.”

 

Bryn hummed in agreement, “Very well. We are in accord. If that is all, I will contact you again in three days.”

 

“Ah, before you go, is there any word of Black Dragon? I would like to speak with him if that’s possible.”

 

Bryn was silent for a long moment before she replied, “…No, there is no news of him.”

 

“Shame about that. Alright, thanks for calling.”

 

“Good-bye.”

 

A small beep signalled the end of the phone call. Well, it had both been productive and frustrating. Carran had been hoping to get in touch with Black Dragon, but apparently, not even Bryn Khan and her network knew where he had gone.

 

“What a shame.”

 

* * *

 

After they returned to Lucky Cat Café, Tadashi was immediately recruited by Aunt Cass to help out in the café, leaving Hiro free to mess around in the garage with Megabot’s upgrades.

 

Opening up Megabot’s parts, Hiro meticulously combed through all of the components that made up his fighting bot, trying to seek any fault that could have contributed to his humiliating loss to Black Dragon the asshole.

 

Absorbed in his task, Hiro didn’t notice Tadashi coming inside the garage until a plate of food was set down beside him, “Hey knucklehead, don’t forget to eat your dinner.”

 

“Whoa?!” Startled by Tadashi’s seemingly sudden appearance from nowhere, Hiro jerked back too far from the table and the chair overbalanced, tipping backwards, “Oh sh-!”

 

“Hiro!”

 

Instead of crashing to the cold, hard concrete floor, Hiro landed on a warm and firm surface. Cracking his eyes open, he was surprised to find that he didn’t hurt anywhere.

 

“ _Ow_.” Tadashi groaned under him. Eyes widening, Hiro quickly got off his brother who had so valiantly attempted to catch him but wound up being a cushion instead, apologies ready to spring from his lips. Tadashi put up his hand, staving off any words as he sat up. Gingerly holding his tender stomach, he wryly joked, “You better lay off the gummy bears.”

 

Concern warred with irritation, before the latter won out, “Oh stuff it! I’d never give up gummy bears.”

 

“Thought not.” Tadashi lightly said as he got up from the floor, dusting off his clothes. Crossing his arms, Hiro groused, “Next time, don’t surprise me like that! What if I had been holding a welding torch??”

 

Tadashi ruefully smiled, “In that case, I’d been more circumspect. I certainly wasn’t expecting you to overreact like that. You were really absorbed.”

 

Hiro ran a hand over his heated face, embarrassed that he had been so oblivious and made a complete fool of himself. He picked up the fallen chair and sat down in it. He dismissively said, “Whatever.”

 

Tadashi didn’t take his hint to leave though. He leant over him to take a closer look at Megabot, curiosity shining in his eyes. Carefully not touching Hiro’s work so as not to mess it up, he asked, “What are you trying to do with Megabot?”

 

Feeling hemmed in by Tadashi’s arms, Hiro shoved at him, “Gerrof! You’re cramping my space!”

 

With an obnoxious smirk that Hiro couldn’t see, Tadashi deliberately leaned on his shorter and smaller brother, “What did you say?”

 

“Aaarrrgh!!” Hiro shouted as he pushed back against Tadashi’s weight. He tried to elbow him but Tadashi had anticipated his move and eased off, leaving Hiro to flail uselessly. Hiro pouted, “I’m not telling you if you’re going to be such a prick!”

 

“Language.” Tadashi absently said as he pulled up another chair to sit beside Hiro. He looked at the blue touch-screen that displayed Megabot’s schematics, the greenish blue light lending a blue cast to his face. He tapped the screen to zoom in on the diagram and remarked, “I see. Are you upgrading Megabot?”

 

“Something like that. Shoo. I can’t work if you’re hovering around me.” Hiro was already diving back into Megabot again, his deft hands dismantling the black parts. Tadashi hid a guilty smile, knowing full too well the exact reason for Hiro’s sudden obsession with Megabot. His loss must have hit him harder than he’d thought.

 

So Tadashi dropped the subject and got up from his chair. He gently squeezed Hiro’s shoulder and softly said, “Alright. Remember to eat your dinner before it gets cold. Don’t stay up too late.”

 

Hiro grunted, waving him off. Tadashi shook his head and quietly left the garage. At least Hiro wouldn’t be going to any bot-fighting competitions tonight and he would be able to get some decent sleep.

 

* * *

 

Tadashi had spoken too soon. Roused from his too brief sleep by the familiar beeping noise from his phone, he didn’t glance over to Hiro’s side of the room to see that his bed was empty. Instead, he quickly changed out of his sleeping clothes into a simple black shirt and jeans, and hurried down the stairs with his phone in hand. With a quick swipe, he found Hiro’s location blinking red near Chinatown. He paused, surprise flooding him at the unexpected address - Hiro wasn’t at one of Bryn’s events?

 

_Oh for god’s sake!_

 

Was Hiro so rattled by his loss that he went right back to illegal bot-fighting? His disappointment tasted acrid as he mounted his scooter. While Tadashi had qualms about Hiro attending Bryn’s bot-fighting competitions because of his past, it was still far safer than the dark unregulated back-alleys of San Fransokyo’s seedy areas. He hoped that Hiro hadn’t wandered too far into dangerous territory.

 

Thanks to the late hour, the roads were blessedly empty and Tadashi was able to reach Chinatown faster than usual. Several times along the way, he had been tempted to simply gun for it and drive as fast as his vehicle would allow, speeding limits be damned. But the roads were still wet and slippery from the heavy rain that had fallen earlier during the night so he restrained himself. There was no point in killing himself trying to get to Hiro.

 

Parking his scooter in a discreet location so it wouldn’t get jacked by hooligans, Tadashi pulled down his cap low to hide as much of his face as possible. Checking his mobile again to reaffirm his wayward brother’s location, he briskly walked down the dimly lit street.

 

Some stragglers passed him by as he approached the bot-fighting ring. Hollering and music could be heard, distorted by the echoes bouncing off the asphalt road and bricks. Tadashi’s hackles raised, feeling far too vulnerable without his racing gear to hide his identity. He had become too used to the safe anonymity of Black Dragon’s mask.

 

_No one knows you here. Just act normal._

 

Slipping into the crowd, Tadashi was practically invisible as the spectators cheered on the bot-fighters, too distracted to take notice of him. He immediately recognised Hiro sitting on the cushion with Megabot’s controls in his hands. Tadashi hardly paid any attention to Hiro’s opponent as he watched his brother carefully, waiting for the right moment to drag him out and back _home_.

 

Soon, Hiro handily defeated his opponent and the fujita stepped up with the claypot. He swiped his winnings with a satisfied grin, “Great!”

 

Dusting off his knees, Hiro collected Megabot and turned to leave the ring, finished bot-fighting for the night. Two bot-fighters took the empty seats and the crowd started laying their bets once more, raucously shouting encouragements and insults.

 

Tadashi followed Hiro, waiting until they were a safe distance away from the bot-fighting ring before he called out, “ _Hiro_.”

 

Hiro stiffened and slowly turned around to stare at him with wide eyes, “Ta-Tadashi? How did you-”

 

“No _excuses_. You are coming home with me _now_.” Tadashi’s disappointment and anxiety had transmuted into burning anger that coiled in his veins like dragonfire. He was tired as hell and his temper was shot. It took more effort than it should have, not to slip into his Black Dragon persona as he gave Hiro a furious glare.

 

Hiro straightened his back and impertinently argued, “I was testing out Megabot’s new upgrades! What better than to do it in an actual bot-fight?”

 

Tadashi pinched the bridge of his nose, “ _Unbelievable._ You were doing it for cash!”

 

“It’s just an extra bonus.” Hiro defensively said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

 

“Hiro-” Whatever Tadashi had to say, was cut off by the wailing sirens of the police cars. Simultaneously as one, they stared at each other with wide eyes before Tadashi grabbed Hiro’s arm and ran in the opposite direction of the police to where his scooter was.

 

* * *

 

Tadashi’s grip on his arm was firm as he pulled Hiro behind him to his scooter. Hiro hurried after him, not keen to be arrested by the police. He also wanted to ask his brother how he had managed to locate him so quickly but Tadashi’s stern expression brooked no questions. Besides, it wasn’t the right time to be asking questions.

 

Tadashi silently tossed the helmet to Hiro as he swiftly mounted his scooter. Putting the helmet on, Hiro had barely mounted the scooter when Tadashi _moved_.  

 

“Holy shit!” Hiro yelled as he clung on tightly to Tadashi’s waist. Tadashi was driving extremely fast, faster than Hiro could ever recall him driving before.

 

“Hang on tight!” Tadashi hissed, his eyes fixed on the road as he forced the scooter to speed away from the approaching police cars as quickly as it could. Taking tight turns in the winding narrow back-alleys to shake off the police cars that couldn’t pass through, they eventually came back out onto the main road…only to see more police cars surrounding them.

 

Hiro tightened his arms around Tadashi’s waist. He whispered, “Oh no, Aunt Cass’s gonna be so _mad_.”

 

Tadashi wasn’t listening. There was still time for them to escape scot-free from the police, as the formation still wasn’t complete. However, this meant risking exposure of his secret identity as Black Dragon as only his street racing skills would work here. There was still a chance that Hiro wouldn’t make the connection but Tadashi was more concerned with the police drawing the connection between him and Black Dragon when they saw his driving skills.

 

So what choice should he make now? Surrender and keep his secret safe? Or escape and risk exposing his secret?

 

Tadashi slowly let go of the handlebars with an exasperated sigh, “Hiro, this is all your fault.”

 

“…I’m sorry.” Hiro’s voice was meek as the consequences of his impulsive actions finally hit him.

 

_How ironic that I’d get arrested as Tadashi instead of as being Black Dragon._

  


	10. Chapter 10

“Ho, how many people did they haul in this time?” Carran asked as he strolled into the detention area of SFPD’s Chinatown branch with a mug of steaming black coffee in hand. He had been called in from the HQ as some of the arrested people might have ties with yakuza, considering how Chinatown was known to be a hotpot for criminal activity. The veteran detective placed his hand on his hip as he eyed the crowd behind the bars. He raised a silver eyebrow in surprise when he saw a lone child in the other detention cell across the full cell. How had he ended up there?

 

Pointing at the kid with his mug, he asked, “Who’s that child and why is he in there? He can’t be older than eleven, is he?”

 

The policeman on duty shrugged, “I don't know, sir. We haven’t interrogated him yet, as we were too busy processing the adults.”

 

“Chrissake. That’s a fucking kid in there!” Carran was annoyed. He didn’t like the possibility that malpractice was being carried out under his nose – children didn’t deserve to be stuck in a cold cell for hours on end. They weren’t physically able to endure what was meant to be very uncomfortable places for adults.

 

“Well, thing is, he was one of the bot-fighters. He even has his own robot.”

 

“How did you know that?” Carran asked.

 

“Some of the perps snitched the kid out. They were yelling about how he conned them of their cash during their interviews. And well…they were telling the truth. We confiscated about eight hundred dollars from him after the raid.”

 

“That’s a pretty impressive amount for a child!” Carran exclaimed. Nonplussed, he eyed the kid with a new perspective. That child was a hustler? He took a sip of his coffee and muttered, “Kids these days. They just get into the darndest things.”

 

Turning his attention over to the crowded cell, he examined the mixed crowd with keen eyes. The child obviously wasn’t involved with yakuza; merely a reckless youth out to get a thrill. The adults were of more interest to him.

 

His experienced eyes dismissed most of the thugs, recognising them as two-bit small flies that regularly got arrested for some small offense or other. Eventually, he spotted a young man who stood out among the thugs like a sore thumb. Clean-cut and well dressed, the Asian youth looked more like a college student – in fact, Carran wouldn’t be surprised if he were one, if his SFIT cap was any indication.

 

“Oi, that man there with the SFIT cap. What was he arrested for? Drink-driving?”

 

“No, sir. He was arrested with the kid while trying to escape. He was a pretty fast and tricky driver so it was quite challenging keeping up with them. They’re most likely brothers based on their physical resemblance.”

 

“Ah, I see.” Carran snorted. He was starting to get the big picture of how the duo had ended up in the clink. Glancing over at the detention cells, he smirked in amusement when he caught the furious glare that the elder brother threw at his younger brother, his brows furrowed into a fierce scowl. The younger brother was grinning nervously back at his elder brother. Carran almost felt sorry for them. _Almost._

Curiosity filled the detective. What were their names, he wondered. Turning back to the policeman on duty, he asked, “Has he been processed yet? If so, what is his name?”

 

“Ah, no sir. He has not been interviewed yet.”

 

“Fine. Have an interview room prepared. It should be quite entertaining to hear what they have got to say.”

 

“Understood. We will prepare a room right away.” The policeman saluted him and promptly began to make preparations for Carran.

 

As Carran waited, he turned back to the detention cells and saluted the brothers with his mug, "Let's hear what you've got to say."

 

* * *

 

The interview room was furnished with only a table, two chairs and a table lamp. The air-con was on at full blast, rendering the room at seemingly near artic temperatures much to Tadashi’s discomfort. All the better to keep the criminals off-balance, he mused as he crossed his arms and tucked his hands under his arms for meagre warmth.

 

Despite his chequered past as an illegal street racer, this was actually his first arrest and it was an experience he wasn’t keen to repeat. Being stuck in a crowded cell with rough thugs (some of whom had strong B.O) had been unpleasant; but that trivial discomfort took a backseat to the constant fear of being discovered and recognised as Black Dragon by the police.

 

As for Hiro, Tadashi wasn’t too worried because his younger brother was being watched by one of the policemen. In fact, he was more concerned for whoever drew the short straw of babysitting Hiro as he was far too aware just how much of a hellion his younger brother could be from personal experience. Tadashi glanced up at the security camera and wondered how long he was going to be kept waiting in this cold interview room.

 

As if his thoughts had been heard, the door finally opened to reveal a familiar face that Tadashi thought he would never see again. Clamping down on instinctive urge to flee (very unlikely to succeed when he was still in a police station with no motorcycle at hand, and of course blow his cover within seconds), Tadashi kept a poker face as Inspector Carran sat down across from him. That policeman had been quite a force to reckon with, and had in fact come very close to discovering his real identity.

 

Inspector Carran pinned him with a grey piercing stare as he opened up the folder and laid it flat on the table. He took a pen from his front pocket and clicked the top as he asked, “What’s your name?”

 

“Tadashi Hamada, sir.” Tadashi stiffly said. The policeman began recording. He asked, “Age?”

 

“21.”

 

“Occcupation?”

 

“Doctorate student at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.”

 

Carran hummed. Finishing off the last of the details, he commented, “Thought so. You don’t really fit in and with that cap of yours, it’s quite blatantly obvious. Now on to the harder questions.”

 

Tadashi remained silent, trying to gauge what the policeman’s intent was. He didn’t think that Carran knew who he actually was yet. So he nodded, eyeing him with trepidation.

 

“Well then. How did you get mixed up with the bot-fighters in tonight’s raid? You don’t hold any cash, nor do you have any robots that you can participate with in bot-fighting.”

 

Carran really didn’t suspect anything then. Feeling much more relieved, Tadashi let his still present irritation with Hiro for landing them both into this mess come to fore, “I was picking up my brother. I didn’t think he was going to do it tonight.”

 

“I see.” Carran didn’t sound surprised, not that Tadashi was expecting him to be. The sly policeman was always well prepared and covered his bases. In all likelihood, he probably already knew exactly why Tadashi was sitting here and who his brother was – it was a small comfort that Carran still didn’t know his actual identity yet.

 

“Very well, you were picking up your brother. Why did you _not_ stop him from going in the first place?”

 

“Believe me, I’ve tried, several times before.” Tadashi pinched the bridge of his nose; pained by the memories of similar escapades Hiro had gone on. Carran’s lips quirked in an amused smirk, “My condolences. Your brother apparently has quite the reputation – the others have been baying for his blood.”

 

Tadashi groaned, “Not if either Aunt Cass or I get to Hiro first!”

 

“Ah, so his name is Hiro. Hmm, where have I heard that name before?” Carran made a note in the records. Tadashi bit his lip. This was a bit of a sore point for Hiro – when he was younger, he had been quite the media sensation as a genius but it didn’t make him happy in school as jealous schoolmates shunned him. He didn’t feel it was appropriate to bring it up here.

 

Fortunately, Carran dropped the topic and moved on. Fixing Tadashi with another piercing stare, he drawled, “But I’m more interested to know how you managed to shake off the police cars during the raid. I was informed that you rode like a devil in the narrow streets and it was quite the challenge to keep up with you. It’s very intriguing how a mere college student could drive so well...”

 

_Shit. He must have been too careless._

 

Tadashi’s heart pounded. Having no idea what to say that wouldn’t incriminate him, he wisely kept silent. Carran raised an eyebrow and commented, “Well, I wasn’t there to see you drive myself so maybe my colleagues were exaggerating a little. They haven’t seen _actual_ street racing after all. I doubt you could actually drive that fast with that little moped of yours.”

 

Whew. Someone was really looking for him if Carran still wasn’t suspecting him of being Black Dragon. Tadashi finally said, “…Honestly, I only wanted to keep Hiro out of trouble.”

 

“In the process, breaking the law by speeding. Good going.” Carran dryly said. Tadashi winced.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“Heh. Don’t do it again, young man.” Carran closed the folder and nodded, “We’re done here. You may call your aunt to bail you and your brother.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Best of luck with your brother.”

 

With that, Carran left the interview room and another policeman came in to escort Tadashi out. He was led to another waiting area where Hiro was. Hiro looked up at him and commented, “Whoa, you don’t look too hot! Were they being really mean?”

 

Tadashi wiped the back of his neck. He had broken out in cold sweat despite the cold temperature of the room and his heart was still pounding in his chest from the session with Inspector Carran. The encounter with his long-time antagonist was the last thing he’d expected tonight. His nerves wired from stress and adrenaline, Tadashi fixed a small dangerous grin on his face that promised an asswhupping. Hiro’s eyes widened.

 

Before his younger brother could react, he swiftly reached out and swatted his head, “That’s because I haven’t been able to get much sleep before I had to go chasing after you! We’re lucky we’re both getting off lightly.”

 

Hiro held his head and whined, “Ow! No need to get violent! I know I was in the wrong, ok! I’ve already given the cash back – I didn’t really need it. I just wanted to check if Megabot was working better!”

 

At that, Tadashi deflated and he slumped beside Hiro. Pulling down his cap over his eyes, he muttered, “Goodness. You never think before you act. If you wanted to test Megabot out, why didn’t you ask me for help?”

 

“…You were sleeping. I didn’t want to trouble you.” Hiro sullenly said as he crossed his arms, “You looked like you really needed your sleep.”

 

 _Oh Hiro_ , Tadashi mentally sighed. Putting his hand on Hiro’s head, he gently said, “Thank you for your consideration. But you forgot Rule 3.”

 

“...Hamada brothers always trust each other?”

 

“Yes. So in this case, even if I’m really tired, you can rely on me for help, ok? Far less troublesome than going off to illegal bot-fights and getting arrested.”

 

Hiro was uncharacteristically quiet before he looked up at Tadashi and nodded, “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind…”

 

Tadashi raised an eyebrow, sensing that he had more to say. Hiro huffed and continued, “You don’t have to worry about me hanging around in the street bot-fighting circuits anymore. I’d been thinking of not going there anymore for a while, and tonight’s experience only cemented it.”

 

“Ah. I’m glad.” Tadashi was quite pleased to hear that - no more worrying about Hiro in the streets. But Hiro blithely continued, “The botfighters are just fodder anyway! Far too easy nowadays…”

 

Put upon and not even the least bit surprised, Tadashi could only say, “You’re incorrigible.”

 

Hiro merely grinned and Tadashi didn’t have the heart to rebuke him further, even if his motives for changing his bot-fighting hunting grounds weren’t pure. Besides, it played very neatly into his plans of having Hiro watched by Bryn at her tournaments. In his Black Dragon persona, Tadashi could even keep a close eye on Hiro in person but like Gogo had said not too long ago, it was a risky proposition.

 

But well, he had already taken greater risks in the past for much less. Hiro’s safety was far more important; it was the least he could do after his great failure to protect Hiro years ago.

 

* * *

 

Carran finally finished filing the records of the arrested criminals. Much to his annoyance, none of them were connected to yakuza. But to be fair, if they were the type to be caught so easily, SFPD wouldn’t have had any issues suppressing yakuza activity in San Fransokyo. No, the real yakuza were much stealthier and more intelligent. They had to be conducting their activities in a place where they could not be detected or reached easily.

 

Aside from the anomaly of the unfortunate college student (heh, that was a good laugh), he wasn’t seeing any pattern in the bot-fighters’ profile. Perhaps, he was looking in the wrong place? Like say, the pattern of the locations of the bot-fighting rings…Carran grunted as a headache bloomed behind his eyes at the thought of combing through data of the past few months.

 

“Guess I’m getting too old for this sort of detective work.”

 

At least his team of analysts could do most of the data crunching. Another trend he was also considering was the cash flow – if there was any unusually large fluxes of cash coming in or out of San Fransokyo, there was bound to be some money laundering involved. Where money laundering occurred, there surely would be yakuza.

 

But the trouble was getting the banks to legally cough up their clients’ financial records due to client confidentiality laws. Carran really was quite fed up with how bureaucratic the investigation process was becoming these days. There was so much bloody red tape that hindered rather than helped the investigation.

 

As a veteran police officer with three decades under his belt on the force, he was well acquainted with the shades of grey of law and justice. Inured to violence and the worst man had to offer in the Homicide Division, Carran had no qualms relying on Bryn’s semi-legal network for intel that he could not acquire otherwise through legal means. It was the lesser of two evils and if it helped to prevent more crime in the long run, Carran would turn a blind eye to it. Just so long as no one was hurt or killed.

 

His phone rang.

 

“Inspector Abbascia speaking.”

 

“Sir, Nezumi was found murdered in Chinatown!”

 

“ _Figlio di troia!”_

 

What the fuck was going on now?! A yakuza was murdered?? Surely, this couldn’t be the start of a yakuza war right on the footsteps of San Fransokyo!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Glossary**  
>  _Figlio di troia!_ \- Son of a bitch!

**Author's Note:**

> For more information and references on Motorcycle Man, please go [here](http://motorcyclemanlibrary.tumblr.com/).
> 
>  
> 
> *****NOTE*****
> 
>  
> 
> **DO NOT EVER ASK FOR UPDATES WITHOUT GIVING ANY FEEDBACK BECAUSE THIS IS VERY RUDE AND INCONSIDERATE TO AUTHORS WHO ARE USING THEIR PRECIOUS FREE TIME TO WRITE THEIR STORIES. THEY WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THEIR WORK AND THAT THEIR EFFORT IS APPRECIATED. THEY'RE NOT FUCKING WRITING MACHINES THAT CHURN OUT STORIES AT YOUR COMMAND.**


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